


Tiundigard: The Tenth Realm

by JayBarou



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Frostiron Bang 2016, M/M, Miðgarðr | Midgard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-30
Updated: 2016-11-30
Packaged: 2018-09-02 03:28:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 29,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8649766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JayBarou/pseuds/JayBarou
Summary: Midgard had slowly become Asgard’s loyal and obedient colony since the Infinity War in the year one of our lords, old date 2018. More than one century after that, current Midgard had almost nothing to do with what Earth used to be, and some idealists were not quite happy with how Asgard had affected humans. There was a human plan in the making, a budding hope.And Loki in his new and very boring position in Asgard’s court, couldn’t help but want to mess with it.





	1. Chapter 1

Somewhere deep inside Tony –somewhere that his scientific mind refused to name– he was sure that his world wasn’t meant to the way it was. His gut told him there had been a major mistake somewhere along the line of time. Well, his gut and numerous social studies whose authors had met a blade long ago, when the Asgardian-way-of-life substituted seamlessly the American-way-of-life, and the Earth-ways-of-life in general.

He woke up every morning with the feeling of being a hamster in a wheel. And the things he had to do to keep the Asgardians (yeah, Tony knew the accurate name was Aesir, but he refused to use it) calm and going on. It could have been humiliating, but he was Tony Howardson. He could go through anything and everything with a cheeky smile plastered on his face.

He was only 149 years old and he felt like the feared 200 were just around the corner. And he shouldn’t be feeling so awful, the ones who lived 200 didn’t feel any age pains either, imported techniques (Asgardians would say the technology was theirs, but Tony had traced it to the frost giants, so fuck them) kept humans at the peak of their lives until they suddenly dropped dead from cellular exhaustion at 350 or so, it was still an expanding thing that was fucking up human’s fertility rates.

Another thing that Asgard’s colonization had stomped on.

Well, Tony was not going to let those thoughts ruin yet another perfect and Asgardified morning on Earth. Tony looked at the blue sky and the blue clouds and the blue-white sun that could be seen from the barracks where most of the others were still sleeping.

Tony got out and watched for a moment the blue tinted surroundings. People of the previous generation used to say that the sunrise was different before, more like midday because that was when sun rays pass through the thinnest part of the protecting spell and paint everything with colours other than blue. Nobody Tony’s age knew what they meant by it, because pictures were black and white back then, so they only had oil-painted canvases that looked like an acid trip in Tony’s opinion. Tony is not nostalgic in that way. A shield was a shield, and if colours had been the only thing humanity had to give up, he wouldn’t have protested.

The guayusa at the kitchen-bunker was already brewing when he got there. Asgardians had liked coffee, so now it was a luxury product that Tony couldn’t dream of affording with his meager human resources. To think that Tony would have been rich if only Asgard had stayed out of the picture…

Well, he could afford this, the bunkers were not stylish, but they were Howardson-produced, so they were solid, practical, easy to repair, cool in summer and warm in winter. And most importantly, they worked with electricity. By the old schematics of many buildings, that had been the normal thing back before Howard agreed to work with Asgard. Now all human energy was supplied by the Odinforce. Just imagine having Asgard controlling your main and only power source, being at their mercy even more. Nope, no building of Tony would ever have that kind of weakness.

Okay, _some_ buildings, since he wanted those to be legal. The buildings that Heimdalll could see ran with the standard issued Odinforce at 5 thaums per second. Tony didn’t like keeping those running, but it was the only way of keeping the rest hidden. And there was a lot to hide. In the plain badlands of Nyr York -one of many grounds zero left on Earth after the Infinity War- he had built down below the ground in the same place where Howard Starkson had built a monument to the skies with his name plastered on it. Tony didn’t live in a world like that; in his world if one raised his head too much, it was bound to be chopped off.

Of course he was rash and bold all the same, but he didn’t have as many opportunities to be so as he wished he had.

“Tony, early today? Don’t you have an orgy in a random bunker to get back to?” Clint, great at pointing things at stuff and at navigating the sewers, called from one of the tables.

“Any bunker where I sleep is designated orgy bunker for the night, Bat.” Tony went to his table with the plastic cup and sleep still in his eyes. “Anything worth of mention today?”

“Not quite. There is room to build south west, but I’ve seen no chances to merit their attention.”

Tony sighed. “We’ll have to make one.”

“That’s going to be a shitload of trouble.”

“As usual.”

“Nothing new.”

They toasted their guayusa soundlessly in the plastic cups and went to silent contemplation. Tony’s plan wouldn’t have moved an inch without Clint. They had met after the Infinity War, that was in the former 2018, now officially _the year one before our lords_.

Clint and Natasha, a clever girl who was probably scouting for trouble in that very moment, had appeared out of the blue, and had swiped Tony off his feet. Literally, with a low-tech trap, but back then it was the only way to get a hold of his fugitive ass.

"Morning, agent Barton, Stark... Anything new?" And unusual smile flashed their way. Agent Coulson was unusual in so many ways. Tony appreciated that weirdness.

"Nothing since Asgard announced the heir's visit a week ago, Sir."

"We'll have to make our own trouble," Coulson muttered. "Stark, is it ready?"

Stark. Only Coulson used it. It was his particular war against Asgardian customs. How he knew what their surnames were was a mystery, because Asgard had destroyed most of Midgard's supposedly lesser records to make room for Asgard's truths and laws and rights and, of course, the new human duties.

"Not at all, officially, but we will only have to skip a few, well, many, well, all safety protocols." Tony grinned, letting the agent guess where the joke finished and the truth started.

Coulson nodded and turned his attention to the small communication device, so uncommon that not even Tony had one. Not because he couldn't make one or a hundred (he had built most of them), but because they only had five satellites left flying within the barrier and any stray waves that bounced on the barrier went straight to Heimdalll's ears. Trying to have more than a few was counterproductive. Tony had made Coulson's device, of course, but it was customized to the best of Coulson's ability with the colours of the former United States flag. Tony knew Coulson was both proud and ashamed of those colours.

When Asgard came knocking, speaking of war and preparing Midgard for it, people rushed to help. Earth, or Terra (as the enemy called it), was in the middle of its own World War. They were ready to have someone bigger support their country first, they were eager to use the leftovers of a bigger war to fight their own battles. It didn't turn out well for humans. At least Tony didn't think so, no one in the base thought so. That was the reason they were there.

But bloody Howard Starkson thought it was a brilliant idea along with most of his contemporaries. He created the first serum soldier for them with Erskine. Captain America wore the United States' colours during that war and he was a hero for some time. He meant something for humans, but then came the next super soldiers, his troop mates, that Barnes guy, and the symbol faded away when all of them became Hydra's puppets; Asgard's puppets.

Coulson was a nostalgic who believed in the old symbol, even if no one else understood anymore. For the rest of the base, it was as bad as the Midgardian flag that waved peacefully in all their institutions now that _Earth_ was dead. Out of the base, it was simply an insult to their unified flag.

Tony understood Agent Nostalgic. Tony understood any manner of personal revolt against Asgard.

"Everything is too quiet," Clint lamented. "And I don't like your plan." He crushed his plastic cup. "We should wait."

"That's what you do, sniper-man, you wait while I run. It has been this way since we met, why change a thing that works?" Tony countered.

“So, are you going downtown today?”

“Definitively.” Tony grinned wolfishly. “I will visit the lower levels of the complex too.”

Clint responded with a matching grin and stood to accompany Tony. Clint never went below the biology lab, but they had a small rotating zoo down there for _Project Noah_ and whenever they had any canine breed, Clint had to be there sooner or later.

Biology was the first, least secret level. The whole complex, Tony’s design based on Nyr York’s sewer system, was a spiral, easier to defend or collapse if Asgard noticed them. It had fail-safes, panic rooms and air filters every few halls. The paranoia levels of security augmented with each floor and Tony upped all of them a notch every few months.

Unfortunately for Tony, his favorite scientist in that level, Bruce, was still sleeping, so he left Clint to his pets and descended in the main elevator. Elliot Randolphson got on in floor -3: _Culture compilation_ , on his way to floor -4: _anti-Asgardian defense program_ also called _Project Ass-Vega_. Tony made small talk as if nothing was wrong, but Elliot was just as unassuming as Phil and just as dangerous. Tony was never sure if he could really be trusted. He was Asgardian, and he might betray them in the last moment, but so far he had been nothing but their best resource in forgotten human history, Asgardian weak spots and the key piece that had allowed them to plan the plan: Hiding from Heimdall.

They were tapping off some energy that Tony still didn’t understand. Elliot said it had been there for centuries and it had only strengthened over the years. It irked Tony, but they couldn’t chance touching it, studying it, and letting Heimdall catch a glimpse. It irked Tony a lot.

Also, Elliot had been already with UnderShield when they picked Tony from the streets. Tony didn’t know his story and he hadn’t had time to pry, so he had a healthy dose of paranoia regarding him, although the guy was mainly fine.

The level just below was the one that worried him the most, and the one where he was headed. Education, social studies, philosophy, politics, health care… That was a mess. Especially because people living and working in the complex were of all imaginable signs, politicians! When Tony built UnderShield’s headquarters just below the destroyed tower of a totaled Nyr York, he had never considered he would have to house actual rats.

Politicians, of all people, seemed to be needed too. Tony didn’t trust those at all, but the militaries in the floor above weren’t much better. At least there was not a single sign. Yes, it was a blessing and a curse. It prevented either of them from taking over and gave them as many perspectives as possible, but it was slow and full of fights and debates that took forever. It was needed, though. Tony repeated that to himself fifty times a day.

It was not a democracy and that helped too. They didn’t have a name for it, mostly because Asgard had burnt their records of political history too, but it seemed to be close to sociocracy. Each ideal, each sign, each opinion, had a say, and it had a turn to speak. There were never voted, but debates until all agreed that something was the right course of action. Unfortunately, they couldn’t afford democracy, because there were too many hate-filled minds and many people who would choose a rash and unwise choice instead of a more logical one.

As long as every opinion had a voice and there was a rotating system where everyone interested and with the backbone and brains to intervene could be a speaker for their chosen sign, the thing would keep working. For now; all systems deteriorated over time. The same chamber of thinkers was already working on ways to make a large-scale system work in a longer-term. Tony dreaded the -5 floor, that’s why he tried to be there as often as possible.

Tony would do anything to protect their end goal: the project at the lowest of the levels, codenamed “ _Project Bedrock_ ” or _level Bedrock_. Everyone in the complex had made it the root of their lives. It was the most prominent unifying factor, along with giving Asgard the finger.

“About time!” Exclaimed one of the no-names in the thinking tank.

“I know down here it’s difficult to tell, but it is barely blue up on the surface,” Tony grumbled.

“Like you keep normal schedules anyway,” dismissed another one.

“You might have a point. But if you want me to work on the threat, you can’t expect me to report on time,” Tony pointed out sitting at the table and looking at what he had to face today.

“That’s exactly what we expect, Howardson.”

“Fine. All’s well. Bye.” He made a move to stand again, there was nobody too dangerous today.

“Howardson!” The guy with a huge nose reproached.

“What? You want more, or do you want me to keep working on it?” Tony stood up anyway and clutched the back of his seat.

“We want a full report…” A bald and graying man said slowly, as if Tony was a child.

“…that you won’t understand,” Tony finished just as slowly.

“Try us. I know you can dumb it down for a few minutes.” A long-haired punk-looking man signaled him to sit back down.

Tony sighed, complying always saved him time, and they didn’t have much of that.

“The Iron Legion is almost fully complete. I’m taking longer to build it because of our plan to make it look like Hydra and Doom’s minions were the ones producing them and make them traceable by magic and mortal means both. There has been no alien movement or instabilities we can redirection to our advantage. The Widow is creating cracks in several Asgard-controlled agencies, putting high-ranking agents in compromising positions to make the most of this hit.”

“But we will have to use the Iron Legion instead of repurposing someone else’s mess at the delegation.” A wrinkled woman stated the obvious.

“Things have been too quiet. The visit of the delegation seems to have scared them off,” Tony confirmed.

“This must never be tracked to us,” One of Tony’s least favorites said ominously.

“And that’s why I’m staying up until well past the last ray of blue to have it done on time.”

“I’m fine with the progress made as long as all the requirements are met,” Punk-guy said in calming tones.

“I accepted this plan because it was _safe_ for project Bedrock, I’m not sure it is still so.” Hateful-guy stated looking at Tony as if he was the root of all his problems.

“I’m working to make it safe,” Tony said with a shit eating smile, just to unnerve the guy. “And it will be ready on time.”

“I believe him.” The old woman countered. “I still don’t like that we have to save him. Having him killed would be easier.”

“We have gone over this.” A dark-skinned guy who had been silent until then spoke up. “Our feelings on the matter are not relevant. The price to pay for his death is much higher than the reward for his life. The story is solid. The chance is now, and it won’t be this easy for the next half millennia. Unless we are willing to wait that time and let our sons and daughters fight this fight, we have no choice but to trust Howardson.”

 

***

 

If Tony was ever asked to retell the epic adventure that took him so far from home, he’d have to start with the day they put to action their plan. An Asgardian audience wouldn’t have the patience for the history lesson that had brought him to that situation. They wouldn’t listen when he said everything started when Asgard convinced Howard and the whole planet to help in the battle they had planned to fight on Earth. Asgardians didn’t care that the path of humanity had changed drastically; they had used the new political scene to manipulate mankind. Once Asgard’s sovereignty was clear, they had established a reward system, and countries had torn down their culture and infrastructures to make an ally out of Asgard.

Hence why Thursday was Thorsday now, Schools taught Royal Asgardin Etiquette instead of philosophy, the old Argentina’s current name was Silfrina, most of Midgard’s politic hierarchy was a cleptocracy and a thousand other big and small details.

The Infinity war brought to the surface the best armed of Midgard. Unfortunately, those were not the good-hearted ones. Hydra was one of the most powerful, especially when they developed their less militarized branch, SHIELD.

 (The only good thing that came out of that was the clandestine formation of all the former SHIELD agents who felt disappointed when they discovered who was paying their salaries. UnderShield had been born out of that, and they were still using inteligence from when they worked legitimately like MOs, aliases and the like.)

Hydra had been bad enough on its own, but many other too had played the role of heroes, mercenaries, really, since Asgard paid any effort in gold.

That had been a disaster. Howard Starkson’s Industries was a solid business and it had still felt the economic mess that the gold input had on the Patron-gold. It had been compared to the ’29 crack. So even reparations for the war only caused further damage.

The other reward for humans was just as bad. Asgard brought in complex futuristic machines and products, like medicines, that came without explanations. Humans used their “soul forges” and extended their lives by the centuries (again, with the economic imbalance that the decompensated populace and the ability to have mortgages for centuries created) but they didn’t understand how they worked. That halted progress altogether. After all, why bother studying how to create something, when it could be done through Asgardian means?

So countries fought each other and their own population to gain Asgard’s goods. Governments shut down journals that spoke ill of Asgardians, there was a speedy ticket to jail if one dared to open Asgardian machines to study them, desperate nations burnt down their libraries, their universities, their R&D, in a mad dash to get the upper hand in the new world picture. The more they debased themselves, the more they were rewarded.

Odin was a shrewd asshole who had planned it all that way, Tony was now sure, although he had been a child at the time; he came to the world when the story had started and he had followed Howard’s steps proudly. He had followed Asgard blindly, in a quest to be more than his father ever was; and they were helping humanity, right? So Tony didn’t see a problem with being something of a pet of Asgard, one of their good boys on Midgard. Then a little freewill, a bit of critical thinking, one little decision that Asgard didn’t pre-approve of and his grace turned into a hunt.

During the following months, Tony watched from the shadows as his plans for a new tower, better than the one that had gone down during the Infinity War, were implemented with big, glowing, neon lights spelling “Aesir Industries” where it should have said “Howardson”, the memory of one of his last days in business still lingered and hurt.

_“Let's face it. This is not the worst thing you've caught me doing.”_

_“Are those laser holes?”_

Losing Pepper had been, perhaps, the worst part of becoming a fugitive; right after leaving the lives of all his employees in Asgardian hands who kept up weapon production.

_“You stood by my side all these decades while I reaped the benefits of destruction. And now that I'm trying to protect the people that I put in harm's way, you're going to walk out?”_

_“You're going to kill yourself, Tony, and Asgard won’t approve.”_

_“I’ll make them understand. Humans have problems they can’t be expected to understand.”_

In the end Asgard didn’t understand, and they were not just a board of directors. Going against Asgard’s wishes was a betrayal: treason with a capital T. So Tony’s punishment had to be exemplary. And suddenly, Tony’s only option was to run. He only stopped running when UnderShield gave him a fake identity and a way of hiding from Heimdalll.

To sum up, Tony’s life, his context and his role in the fucked-up world where he lived meant nothing to Asgard. Hence why the Asgardians wanted his head in a golden platter and why they’d swallow the ruse they had planned hook, line and sinker.

The only facts that mattered to them went along these lines:

Prince Thor, his intended, his acolytes, the avengers from Alfheim, half the royal guard, the Warriors three, a few advisors, blah, blah, blah... had gathered to celebrate a feast to honour the young couple, because Midgard was so rustic, quaint and bucolic...

They didn’t expect to be attacked by what had been until that moment perfectly peaceful Goldbots strolling through the streets, making sure that the curfew was obeyed. Apparently something had fried them and the bots couldn’t tell friend from foe; the armed attendants gathered at the feast had to intervene.

The swarm of bots was surprisingly hard to beat, considering that the Goldbots were designed to attack and control humans, not gods. Goldbots were created with a weak material, for a cheaper production, but none or very few of the fighters noticed that detail. Then again, they had never fought them before, and the bots had never so much as pointed a weapon against them. Doom’s designs balanced Hammer’s production and worked as a charm to keep civilians in line.

But back to the part that interested Asgard.

The fight seemed as clumsy and chaotic as if it had been an honest mistake, all based on numbers and no control: when one was down, another appeared. But if one looked closer, there were traces of foul game: didn't help that all communicators seemed to be jammed, so when Hammer’s failsafe droids tried to help, they mostly destroyed each other or targeted the few civilians who had been preparing the feast. Fortunately nobody died, as if the civilians targeted had been in fact cover agents trained in one of the many Pro-Asgardian agencies.

Agents broke their covers to save themselves, and in the chaos, it looked like Hydra's branch, SHIELD (not to be confused with the underground and very illegal UnderShield that kept the name to hide under SHIELD’s shadow), were trying to actively target the Asgardians with modified weapons.

But no, that wouldn't be part of the Asgardian tale either. They would recount how Volstagg took one of them with his belly, and how the Warriors three were brave heroic and perfect. If they had time, they'd mention Sif, maybe even the Elven Avengers, but only if not all the time was consumed with Thor’s smashing.

In Tony’s opinion the ones who caused more actual damage to the operation where Captain America and Bucky Barnes, once they joined the fight, jumping from a Hydra jet. What a pair of empty-minded fuckers, but they fought well together. Tony hated and pitied them in equal measure.

So there was a glorious fight (lie) led by Thor (lie) to save civilians (superlie, curfew, remember?), until it became a personal vendetta (read: quest for glory) when a bot took an innocent redhead (lies) and flew her shouting like a banshee (great actress with Iron lungs, the widow). She became the (willing) bait in a trap for Thor, set in Hammer’s rooftop, when more Hammer-Doom hybrids accosted the prince of Asgard.

How fortunate that Ironman was around, had heard the shouts and decided to run to the redhead's rescue. That way he could help Thor to vanquish his foes in a hard battle with many moments where Ironman saved the Prince’s life in front of the many witnesses that were slowly gathering.

And then the enemies were squashed and Iron Man was handcuffed and dragged to Asgardian dungeons kicking and screaming.

Earth’s press would have had a field day with that, but Midgard’s press had learnt the hard way that there was nothing to report except the happy arrest of a dangerous ideological enemy of Asgard. Asgard’s committee disappeared shortly later via Bifrost.

The redhead, now ignored by everyone since she wasn’t a damsel in distress or flying to kiss her rescuers, touched the small golden right earring that would signal that everything had gone according to plan and proceeded to sweet-talk the press into publishing a few extra lines. A little weeping would surely work well enough, but there was not much more to do. Now it was time for level six and Howardson to play their part in their respective realms, Norns help them all.

 


	2. Chapter 2

 

Loki had been witness to many stupid decisions since he had stopped orchestrating mischief. The last one; he had seen how Thor went after the fake robot and was lured into a trap. He has been witness to how the vigilante, Iron Man, wanted for crimes against Asgard, had pretend-helped Thor to get rid of their enemies. He had seen the human in Asgard's cells, where he belonged, making merry with guards and criminals alike. He had seen, for the first time in millennia, a bigger feast-like ruckus in the dungeons than in the throne room, and meanwhile, Thor was brooding about his imprisoned new shield-brother. Never visiting him, and so, never witnessing the feast.

The brooding had been the only reason why Odin celebrated the trial at all. Thor should have been investigating what had happened on Midgard, but he roamed the halls of the palace complaining about Howardson not being treated like the warrior he was. Loki had been against the trial; summary execution would have been exemplary, but Thor had been too loud and people were starting to wonder if Odin would do the same to those Avengers from Alfheim, or worse, to the Warriors Three if tables were to turn.

The trial, a week after the human was caught, had been an amusing play with emotions that managed to catch Loki's attention for more than a few minutes. One particular human catching his attention in more than one way. Odin should have used another wordsmith against him, but since he didn't trust Loki enough to put him in front of a crowd in his name, he dealt with the human on his own.

Loki was not sure of what happed, because Howardson twisted his single act of heroics into something disproportionate, but believable. He then proceeded to twist his past misdeeds -opposing Asgard in weapon-production issues- and turned it into a sob story about how he had been prosecuted for his personal choice when his only wish was to serve the gods in all matters but weapons.

All in all, Loki was close to clapping at the end of it, because Howardson got the golden apple he requested for his troubles and a second apple for whoever he loved. The human had a plan, Odin must have known it, but he was probably considering using him in some way or he wouldn’t have given him the apple just because of a touching story. Loki found himself lured; he wanted in.

Besides being lured in, he was being turned on. The human had been interesting enough when he twisted words and charmed the public, but once he had had the apple, Howardson was no longer quite weak, quite human. And that meant Loki could appreciate that round ass and imagine fucking that conniving mouth without the nudging feeling of stalking a child.

Taking an interest in someone was a nice change of paradigm; Loki had felt apathetic since Thanos died. All his plans had come to fruition and he had found himself sitting on a pile of success and feeling completely empty and alone. He had burned all his bridges, pulled all the strings, called in all his favors… and his reward was… simply staying alive, back where he started, under Thor and Odin, but without Frigga, without the love of his oafish brother, and without his tricks.

He became Odin’s tool once again, because Loki didn’t work well without a purpose. His last interesting task had been taking over Midgard to make it the battleground against Thanos. Asgard didn’t want a war in their lands, so they had to move it elsewhere, and it had to be their colony before, during, and after the war, so Loki had spent some time learning how humans worked before presenting his successful plan to Odin. Humans didn’t stand a chance against Asgard from that moment on, but since then here had been nothing interesting on Loki’s plate.

Maybe if he found out what was the human’s plan he’d gain Odin’s favor enough to have his moderate trust, maybe he could use it against Odin, but in any case, it was something new and interesting, so he had to know more. Loki followed the song of that familiar thrill.

“Not far enough. You are out, let room for the winners.” Loki sighed hearing that. Finally.

The Longhouse was full; something quite frequent whenever there was an outlander visiting, but the customers were somewhat unusual. When Loki had followed Howardson and Thor inside, unseen, as he did everything lately, he had confirmed what he could already tell from the noise. The Innkeeper had brought and was selling fine sweet liquors, as well as the mead tankards; there were far more females than usual.

The feast was for the _poor, weak_ human, hence the fine, more delicate drinks that ladies were supposed to drink. At least that had been his excuse to avoid drinking. Planning to find Howardson, Loki had joined the crowd of men to partake in the evening games, but he realized his mistake when he spotted Howardson among the spectators. Adducing weakness the human had steered away from the usual party, joining a game of hnefatafl instead of the warrior custom of flyting and the game of hnútukast.

The group surrounding the human was a bunch of young seiðkonas that usually scurried away after a few minutes of feast, or at least they faded to the ignored corners of the room. Loki walked towards them, adopting a more feminine form; still a man, in case someone was looking, but many would call him an ergi in that form and he would be welcome among young women more easily than a hardened blundering warrior.

He was wrong, and he was getting tired of being wrong that evening. Howardson looked up and down at the newcomer appreciatively, which sent a thrill up Loki’s spine, but Howardson seamlessly changed topic. That stopped the thrill from going anywhere. The women with him seemed to be aware of the change and willing to help to hide the conversation because they followed his change of conversation.

“…but Thor is stronger than him, right? I mean, he must be.”

“Huh? Oh, indeed,” Howardson’s competitor said, not quite as smooth as him.

“Who wins?” Loki asked quietly.

“They are not playing. Þuríðr is teaching some of us to play.”

“Can you play?” Howardson asked with a daring look.

“Indeed.” Loki took a step forward to play and Howardson stood.

“Fantastic, then Þuríðr can keep playing for you all; I have someone I must see before I leave. Excuse me, ladies; I owe you a game, Þuríðr...”

And then he was gone while Loki stood there completely dumbfounded, staring at his retreating form while the magic practitioners roped him in for a game.

“What were you saying about Thor?” Loki asked.

“That is for us to know and you to wonder,” Þuríðr said mysteriously.

“I…” Loki wondered what angle to use, and he decided to use his form to the full. “But is he… He is around Thor a lot, are they…”

“Oh, no, no, poor thing, it wasn’t that kind of private conversation.” One of the younger women pitied him. Loki’s rival, Þuríðr, glared at her, but she was not paying attention.

“Oh, then what is it he said? He mentioned his interests? Something I can…” Loki made himself blush for the young woman.

“No, we were talking about women things, about seidr, nothing that you could use.” She smiled kindly and Loki did all he could to look crestfallen. He moved a piece on the board.

“It was not a conversation about interests, if you must know,” Þuríðr said, making it sound like she couldn’t see why he had any right to know at all. “We were simply warning him against magic users who might trick him, since he is new to the land and, since he is human, defenseless against magic. If he wants magic he should come to us.”

Loki nodded and moved a piece again, not thinking much about the game.

“You should stay away from him. He is Thor’s shield-brother; he might expose you,” the young talkative woman said in a hushing voice and a worried tone.

“So you warned him against Lorelei and Amora?” Loki said, affecting a worried tone too but ignoring her completely.

“And against Loki, yes.”

Loki hid a smile as best as he could. The human was going to deliver himself at his doorstep. He must have wanted to contact a powerful seidr master who was willing to go behind Odin, criminals were the perfect choice. Now it was a matter of waiting until the human visited him, he even had time to finish the game.

Disappointment came knocking on his window that night in the form of Amora, though, not the pesky human.

“Loki, tell me about Midgard,” she said as soon as Loki opened the way.

“Pleasure to see you too, Amora. Where are my manners? Come in, have a drink and invade my room as usual.”

“I don’t have time. Midgard’s colonization has your signature all over it, so you must know how it works, right?”

“Perhaps, why do you ask, and why now?”

“A business chance came up.” She walked around the room as if it was an extension of her own home. “And I want to make sure I come up on top.”

Loki thought quickly. That stupid human had chosen Amora over _him!_ Why would he do that? That would surely ruin his plans, or at least make him work for them and he didn’t want to. First things first, Amora had to be dealt with.

“Oh, then you already heard about Odin’s plans for you? I didn’t think he’d tell you so soon.”

“I’ve… He didn’t, I had a different source of information.” She lied through her teeth to get Loki talking.

“Well, I don’t think it was a reliable source, but since the truth is out anyway, Odin is considering sending you to Midgard with Thor and the warriors Three. For you it would mean a temporary truce and a chance to get back to his good graces, of course.”

“Of course.” She looked stunned and hopeful. “So, about Midgard?”

“Don’t worry about them. Say you are a goddess and they’ll kill each other for you.”

“Any warnings? For a friend?”

“Bring trinkets to exchange and offer pretty lies in exchange for anything you want.”

“So barbaric.” She huffed in disgust.

“Indeed, they are basic and simple. Now go and rest, you’ll need it.”

“Loki…”

“Yes?”

“Is Midgard hostile? Is there anything like the Ass-hate groups in Niflheim?”

_In other words, who is the little human who came looking for me and would it play in my benefit if I help him from the shadows_. Loki could read her so easily.

“Not at all, dear. There are only loners doomed to fail. Asgard is only starting to assess their dominance, so they are being especially intransigent with them. Nobody has dared to even interact with rebels in fear of losing their freedom. So while you are there, try not to make friends, they are more trouble than they are worth.”

She seemed to come to a decision. A Loki-induced decision.

“Thank you, Loki.”

As soon as she teleported out, Loki’s smile dropped. Now he had to convince Odin to send her and the others to investigate Midgard and justify why Loki himself wouldn’t be the warlock of the campaign. Immediately, turning the lie into a truth before the lie could grow out of control. And then there was a human who thought himself very clever that he wanted to hunt down.

Odin was a priority, therefore, after he slipped the needed poison in the right counselor’s ear to make it happen, he waited in front of Lorelei’s house, where the little human would surely go now to further Loki’s humiliation.

Case in point, Howardson appeared down the street almost at the end of the night with a sure strut that could have opened him doors where there were only walls. Just a breath away from knocking on her door, Loki spoke up.

“She is not home.” Howardson turned to him with an inquisitive stare. “Odin sent her on a well-timed errand late last night and she won’t come back soon.”

“Did he, now?” Howardson answered, already wary and about to flee.

If Loki listened closely, he could hear Lorelei snoring as loudly as usual and she would sleep until noon as usual. The human wouldn’t hear it, though.

“Of course he did. You have been knocking on the wrong doors. Now let us go somewhere more private.” _Before Lorelei decides to come out and ruin my ruse._ He added mentally.

“Loki, right? I don’t really want to go anywhere alone with you.” Howardson turned and started to walk away.

“And why is that?” Loki walked by his side before guiding him to the closest public morning house where Asgardians usually had a horn of Midgard-imported coffee. The same that Howardson hadn’t tasted in eons thanks to the price bang.

Howardson didn’t run away once he checked the place was full of people, crowded really, despite the sun not being up yet.

“Ha! You? I’m looking for someone with _good_ magic knowledge.” Howardson stood, arms crossed, while Loki signaled for two beverages dark as the night outside and both their moods.

“I know magic, better than most.” Loki pointed out, a bit confused, honestly. Hadn’t the seiðkonas warned him against three seidr-users? Why was Loki excluded?

“Don’t make me laugh; apparently magic is a _woman’s_ art.”

“So? Are you of the opinion that since I’m a man I should only use weapons?” Loki said quite annoyed and wondering if he should simply gather proof and send Howardson to the gallows.

“What? No. I’m saying that when women do stuff and a man tries to do the same thing, his mediocre shit is always praised above the astounding work of many women.”

“And that is why you went to them first,” Loki deadpanned.

Howardson nodded. “That, and because you are a noble-blood, pompous asshole who does Odin’s dirty work. Excuse me if I consider anything you can offer a bad trick of Odin.”

Loki’s blood pressure was going up and down like a bad Bifrost trip. “Tell me why I shouldn’t smite you for those words.”

“Easy one. Because you have nothing to report to your master. There’s only my unhealthy, but understandable curiosity about magic issues.” Howardson looked longingly at the horns full of coffee that they had been served and left them untouched. “And you suspect there is more to it, like Odin’s good hunting dog.”

Loki decided he had had enough so he played the easiest trick up his sleeve. He weaved the illusion of a golden apple.

“And you are going to tell me what it is, or you are going home without this.”

Howardson stared at the apple and then at Loki.

“Exactly how thick you think I am? Because, that illusion? is just as half-assed as your disguise yesterday.” Howardson pointed at the apple. “Mine doesn’t have the steam anymore. Odin took it; I suspect that it was to make the thing rot faster.”

Loki made the apple disappear with what was almost already a pout.

“Look, any other time I would be glad of talking around you, but I have serious business to attend to and you are trying to stall me.”

“Stall you?” Loki almost laughed in frustration. “No, no, no. Threatening. No drink? Are you sure? I'm having one.” Loki picked the dark coffee. Howardson ignored the bitter peace offering. Then again, a drink practically stolen from Midgard was probably not a good peace offer.

“You can’t threaten me, and I won’t make a deal with you, because nothing I can offer will outweigh staying in Odin’s good graces as you want to stay.”

“Keeping me entertained would outweigh Odin anywhere, anytime. You have not bothered to research me, and you should have. Then again, I could suggest to the Allfather that you won’t be safe in Midgard with that apple until your loved one has consumed it. I could suggest that you’d be safer if you were to have a security detail at any given moment, constant monitoring. And wouldn’t it be a shame if that prevented you from doing something private with that extra apple? Research, perhaps?”

Loki expected a long pause, but Howardson countered instantly. “Entertained?”

“You are preparing something, some kind of coup, a headache for sure, and I consider that highly entertaining.”

“According to my research,” Howardson scratched and pulled softly the hair under his chin. “You have been trying to get back into their good graces. Why would you be entertained by a coup?”

“You mistake my intentions.” Loki grinned.

“I don’t think I do. You can only fool everyone once and all that. You are trying to be let back in so you can play mind games from the inside, being out here with the rest of us is exhausting, isn’t it?”

“Hmm, indeed,” Loki’s grin was clouded. “I’m rebuilding my resources, but I wouldn’t say no to hitching a ride to get them.”

“Why?” It was Howardson’s serious face. It soured Loki, and reminded him of his life as of recent: vacant of cheer or mischief. It irked him.

“Because Asgard is just as stale as before the war?” _And because you, human, are the first interesting thing to happen since Alfheim’s Avengers split up_ , came the unwanted thought.

“No.”

“No?”

“Watch the fireworks from the barrier and be entertained by that, or go now to Odin and sell me out if you think he’ll believe you. Be my guest and bore yourself to death, I know the feeling, but don’t believe for a second that I will be blackmailed this easily.” Howardson turned to leave and started to make his way between bulks twice his size. Behind he left his untouched coffee and a stunned Loki.

“You call _this_ easy?” Loki muttered before leaving a few coins and bolting after him. “I have the resources you need, now that Amora and Lorelei are gone.” He reminded the human before he managed to get out of the thick of the crowd that had grown with the sunrise as usual.

“And whose fault is that?” He said suspiciously. “Anyway, I won’t risk all that I have by putting it into _your_ chaos-driven hands.”

“So don’t… yet.”

“What? Are you asking me to wait until I trust you? After telling me openly that you are trying to rebuild Asgard’s trust so you can fool them again?”

“You are different, you are sharp.” Loki tried with flattery.

“Odin seemed pretty sharp to me, and my ego gets stroked often enough to know not to let it be used against me.” Howardson walked faster and Loki rushed accordingly. He really wasn’t used to people running from him. His preys usually stood and listened politely, which let him use body language much more efficiently.

Howardson only stopped a moment to look with something akin to a pout at the sky where the sun was already up in a nice blue sky without a cloud to disturb it. Loki used the pause and sigh to catch up with him. He had resumed his fast walking, though, which annoyed Loki, no matter how nice his strut was.

“Well, I have something you want and I want a part in your mischief. How do you suppose we should do this?”

“I won’t let you into my plans. Full stop. No matter the price.” The human wasn’t even looking at Loki, how was that fair? Loki’s facial cues wouldn’t work.

“What about something else?” Loki said, stopping and forcing Howardson to stop too. Too far, but it would do.

“Like what?” The human made an exasperated gesture, opening his arms like there was nothing that could tempt him, ever.

“Like you. You are intriguing. I want all of you; your mind and your body for a few months.”

Howardson deadpanned “Things beside my ego have been stroked enough to know not to let it be used against me too. So, in other words, you want the chance to spy on me closely.”

“With the margin benefits of sex, indeed.”

That at least gained Loki the reflexive pause he had been looking for. “This is a game to you, isn’t it? You’d rather find out what I’m doing than force me to say it.” Loki didn’t dignify such an obvious deduction with a comment. “What do I get in return?” He looked Loki up and down. “Besides the obvious.”

“Everything magic-related that I can offer.”

“Phrase that better.”

“Anything you can think of that I’m capable of procuring without harm to myself or others.”

“You are not allowed to ‘procure’ without giving instructions or a way to use it. I don’t want resources that require a magic user if you are not willing to make it work for me.” Howardson thought for a second before spitting “and no riddles, rhymes or any language I can’t fully understand.”

“Agreed,” Loki said pleasantly, giving off the feeling that he still had a bag full of tricks that the human hadn’t considered yet.

“Not so fast, you can’t even imagine how many rules I’m already planning.”

“Oh, but will this be a delight.”

 

**********

By the time they were somewhat satisfied with the deal, they had decided that the time span would be twelve months; a whole human year. Loki wouldn’t get help from Asgard, or other realms, or outside the realms, or humans, or anyone really. Loki’s resources wouldn’t be tampered goods; so, no locator, spy-eyes or mic-spells. There wouldn’t be threats to their lives, limbs, property, or that of others. Threatening with revealing each other wasn’t allowed either.

Every one of Loki’s resources or every hour of magic explanations (no stalling allowed), would be rewarded by an honest answer by Tony. In turn, Tony was allowed to keep silent if he deemed a question too revealing.

No interrogations in bed.

Loki wanted exclusivity, (and Tony knew it was only because the god thought he could control Tony through sex deprivation) and no threesomes or other people involved. They had decided that neither would be able to explain the whole deal to a third party.

Drugs, sedatives and similar wouldn’t be used if both parties were not aware of it and its consequences. Also, feelings, be it hate, fondness, or anything else that could drastically change the rules in their game. That wouldn’t be easy to avoid, because there was no way of tracking when amusement and a bond based on mistrust could become something intrusive like friendship. They would try their damnedest, though, proud creatures as they were.

There was also a failsafe: both of them recorded their confessions and their willing conspiracy against Asgard and one would be sent as soon as the contract was broken by one of the parts.

Basically, it was a careful dance, a careful war against each other in close quarters, and it had only just begun.

 


	3. Chapter 3

Nobody was happy with Tony’s new follower back on Midgard. On the base, the assumption was that the plan backfired and now Tony had eyes on him. It was not an absolute lie, so he didn’t dissuade the notion. Nobody had the chance to ask directly, because Tony cut almost all communication. He couldn’t have Loki spying, so all his contact was reduced to leaving the golden apple at reception, that couldn’t be avoided.

Fortunately, the ground level of the base was a low-tech building, a cover in the shape of a veterinary center. Obviously Loki saw that Tony left there the apple, and he would come back later, Tony was sure, but the real base was well hidden, so Tony progressed with his new life.

One could think that living together would make them domestic, but that was not at all what happened. If there was any awkwardness at all, it was blown away with a new question, a sardonic comment, or plain old sex. At least the first few days; after that, they found a rhythm and things to do outside home. Tony couldn’t go back to the main project, but he could leave little reports so UnderShield agents would find them and apply them to the project. Meanwhile, Loki investigated his own leads to find where in Midgard Tony had hidden his secrets and following him from afar when he left home.

Long before Loki, Tony had developed a level of paranoia that allowed him to play the spy to almost perfection, and it helped that he knew how to blip in UnderShield’s radar like lighthouse. A casual bump in the street, in a coffee shop, a swift exchange when takeaway came and suddenly Tony didn’t have his report with him anymore. Tony sometimes wondered if UnderShield’s recruits came from a stage-magician school or if they just hired pick-pocketers.

Their progress was easily tracked:

 

_Why is magic 5 thaums on Midgard, but 50 on Asgard?_

_Were you working on this project before you antagonized Asgard the first time?_

_Not yet, no._

_It’s 5 thaums because you can’t do much harm with that. Odin put the limit there._

_Magic duplication and enlargement and its relation to mass conservation, shoot._

_Seeking to enlarge something, Tony? Feeling self conscious about last night? You shouldn’t; I’m a frost **giant** , it had to show somewhere._

_Is that your question? Because I can say it’s not the size, but how it **performs** , and you’d still owe me an answer._

_I’ll take that as an implicit yes and ask if at this stake you would be able to take over Asgard or repel a battalion if it came here._

_No to the first half and not sure to the second half._

_Not sure, huh? That means in some scenarios you would._

_Mass conservation._

_Fine, bring that board._

_So your project is not focused on offensive moves, but I don’t think it is quite defensive either. Maybe… escape? Are you planning to escape Midgard? it would make sense, you need someone to break the blue shield, and a way of building a spaceship discretely with stasis chambers I guess._

_Specify your question._

_Are you trying to run away._

_My request. I know there are herbs mixed with magic that could stabilize the effects of the golden apple at a genetic level, affecting eggs and sperm to make strengthened subjects also parents of strengthened children._

_You want that potion, that would break your dependence on the apple._

_Not break, reduce, since more might come. Also, no, I want you to break it down to its most basic components for me, provide the first batch, and explain why and how it works._

_All of that for such a little question?_

_It is not a little question._

_Then that’s my answer. You woudn’t ask for such a price if my question was wrong._

_Then I guess you are bound to provide now._

_You are not wrong._

But not all of it was intense drama and question-bartering, since both of them were easily sidetracked.

 

_What’s a toothbrush for?_

_Are you seriously going to waste a question that way?_

_Hmm, sure, I’ll have you cornered before the year is finished, so why not waste a question anyway?_

_Have it your way, but I want to know the ways in which siedr is liked to its user’s body.  
                Oh, ok, take a seat, we could make this class practical and physical._

Surprisingly enough, they hadn’t sealed their deal with a kiss, or with a hard fuck either; after the long and tiring negotiations they’d ended up wanting to strangle each other. Even more surprising, hate-sex was in neither of their wide repertoires of kinks.

 

 

_Two rooms?_

_We never specified sleeping arrangements and I didn’t want to assume, also, in case we are sick of each other._

_Good forethought, I’m sure we will need it, eventually._

_Oh, but I like that grin of yours, let’s hope “eventually” is far, far away._

It turned out that they needed the second room five days later, and they refused to tell anyone why.

 

_You don’t understand, I won’t use it against them, I just want to UNDERSTAND!_

_I won’t simply hand in Asgard’s magic defenses, let me explain myself: tell me where you hide the resources needed for your plan, I promise not to say it today._

_…Fine. Fine._

 

However, every time the opportunity arose, Tony pulled the waistband of whatever Loki was wearing or Loki dragged Tony to bed pulling his hair, one memorable time by his goatee.

 

_What are you doing now, absurd human?_

_Bidin’ my dongue._

_Hmmm?_

_Biting my tongue, because we said no interrogations in bed. Stop snickering! It doesn’t suit you! No, no. You are not allowed to mock me. I know that thing you did was magic and I’m so going to ask as soon as we are not in bed. What?_

_You are ridiculous._

 

Then of course, there had to be _some_ domesticity, despite Loki making food appear and disappear out of nowhere instead of doing things the human way. Tony actually cleaned because he didn’t have the resources to build a robot to do it for him. While Tony had to actually swipe, Loki could do it with a swipe of his hand, but he refused to do it. Well, ne never outright refused, he simply never did it. Another of his petty tricks whenever Tony didn’t answer his questions was waiting until Tony had taken all the cleaning products, put on gloves and done half the job and suddenly all was clean and Tony looked stupid.

 

_You are welcome._

_Yeah? Well, you are welcome to go to Hellheim._

 

They still sat idly on the couch doing nothing, reading, listening to music, avoiding the Asgardian-news (and only) channel, working on harmless projects, and shared information when it would mean benefits for both of them.

 

_I’ve been told Thor is stomping all over Midgard trying to find out what or who made those robots turn against our delegation the day we came for the feast._

_And he didn’t even call this old friend._

_If it makes you feel better, he has not called the beloved brother he claims to care for either. Well, he also didn’t bother asking why I needed to go with such urgency, for a whole year, but I did tell him I was here and he has not contacted since the day we left Asgard._

_No._

_No?_

_No, it doesn’t make me feel better._

_Oh. He brought Amora with him too. Will she be trouble for your project or you?_

_No. I carefully planted magic clues that will lead them to Doom and Hammer. Thor and whoever is with him will actually help Midgard for once, taking Doom, Hammer or both to a nice Asgardian cell, waiting to be executed, and voila, two birds, one stone._

_See? That’s why I was interested from the beginning. How can you manipulate magic despite not having opened yourself to seidr channels? Where did you learn?_

_I won’t answer those, neither as part of the deal nor as a friend._

_We are friends, mortal?_

_Not quite mortal anymore, and we are fiends, that’s what we are._

 

Somehow, in the middle of their pull and push they found time for things that weren’t strictly speaking necessary.

 

_I knew I couldn’t trust you. You cheated!_

_I most certainly did not._

_You did!_

_How could I, when you just taught me how to play?_

_You obviously knew how to play._

_Take it as payback for the game of hnefatafl you owed me._

Some more vital than others.

 

_I don’t see why I should help you._

_I don’t see it either, but you offered._

_I though you were just rambling about how Asgard was evil again._

_I don’t ramble…_

_…_

_But I do monologue on occasion. Well, I was serious, what are you gonna do about it?_

_Is it going to be trouble for Asgard?_

_Indeed._

_Then you know what I’ll say. What I don’t understand is why this. Hydra is not a direct threat to your project, so why do you want to take those Bershekers from them?_

_Because, they are part of Earth; part of what meant to be human before Asgard came. Nobody really thinks Midgard can be Earth again, but some believe that if we break the mind control of all those Winter soldiers, paired with the fact that Doom and Hammer… maybe that would give Midgard a fighting chance._

_But it is not part of your project._

_For… No! It is not. But if you really want the messy answer tied to my family, the history of it, other people involved… you are going to have to waste a lot of questions, it will be like pulling teeth, and this window of opportunity will closed before I’ve even started, so will you help blindly or not at all._

_… I suppose it is still a nuisance to Asgard, so yes, we’ll free them from the mind control._

 

And then Tony started to feel the strain of the long-term deal, he started to realize his questions could become Loki’s answers all too easily if he didn’t tread with care.

 

_How is it… what do you… Wait, wait. In what…?_

_I’ve been lead to believe that adults form full sentences, do try sometime._

_I would, but…_

_What? You ran out of safe questions?_

_No, not yet. It only takes longer to formulate them._

_Well, this shall be entertaining._

Loki’s snooping also started to pay off, and even if it took some time, he was gathering useful information. Loki was completely sure he would win and he didn’t shy away from showing his findings.

_Maria hill’s suit was especially fitting today, don’t you think? Very conspicuous for an agent._

_Oh, damn._

And Tony started to feel like he had taken a wrong detour at some point, because he had become inordinately attached to Loki, and slightly possessive, and Loki _knew_ because of a stupid unconscious habit.

_Are you aware you have developed a habit?_

_Hmmm? You can’t fool me, Loki, you are as tired as I am, don’t make me think now._

_…_

_Wait, you made that silence sound smug. What habit?_

_You bite. You bite me. If I didn’t know better I’d say you want to mark me._

_Oh._

Also, Tony was slowly running out of safe questions, careful wording be damned. There were a bunch of months still left and Tony worried because the project was not done, Loki knew too much, and when the deal was over nobody could guess what he’d do with the information.

Tony had learnt much about Loki since they signed off that deal, he knew his first move wouldn’t be to run to Odin. However, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t use the information against them. Tony didn’t want to think about the end of the deal, because somewhere deep down he’d miss Loki’s company, but he had to think about it. _He had to,_ because all his plans were in jeopardy, so many years and so many people endangered by sentiment… So he shoved his somewhat budding feelings under the rug and honored their deal.

People never realized what was the price Tony paid so others could have a hero, but he paid; regular and costly fees.

And then all Tony’s worries turned true:

 

_Tell me, Loki, what is the difference between a realm and a planet?_

_It is a matter of… oh. Oh! That’s it!_

_Damn!_

***

Loki realized what was going on when there was only a month and a half left of the deal. Truth be told, he had expected to solve the little riddle in three months tops, then keep the human as a bedwarmer and pet until the deal was done. After that he had no plans, maybe give the information to Odin, maybe blackmail the humans, or maybe become a mayor hindrance in their lives. Something that would keep him entertained for a little longer.

The game of guessing had been interesting enough, and having a pupil in magic matters had been a new and thrilling experience. The end was close, but he didn’t want it to be. Of course, Loki could still keep going; there were details that he didn’t know, like the place where they operated, but the end was now just a matter of time.

Loki knew that humans had used the golden apple to produce a divine serum and that they had germinated the seeds of the apple successfully. At first Loki had thought they were developing an army, but that was not it. Later he had figured out they were working with an Aesir renegade, even though he didn’t have a name yet. He knew there were a few hundred people helping, but he wasn’t sure if there were more than a few thousand.

Despite the information gaps, he knew he could use what he already had to unravel the rest of it. And it was a real pity, because he had grown to like Tony; worse, he had grown to like the situation. If it had been just Tony, he could have snatched him from his world. But he liked the challenge, the feel of life and the feel of working behind Asgard’s back once more.

And it was about to end.

Tony was just as aware and as unwilling as Loki if his frantic pacing was any indication. Of course he might have a different reason, since he was risking much more than Loki. No matter what Loki tried, Tony simply paced thinking at top speed. And then he left the flat that had become their home for the year without a single warning.

Loki considered following him, but he didn’t think he’d get much out of it, so he teleported dinner from somewhere inconvenient in Asgard and turned on the Asgard-approved channel on the TV; just something numb to keep his eyes busy while he thought.

Tony just needed some fresh air to admit his defeat. But Loki knew that Tony was prone to overthinking; he would think himself into an early grave because he always considered ahead of all the direst possibilities.

What could Tony think? Well, Loki wanted to think that Tony was as smitten as himself, wanted to think that Tony wouldn’t even consider Loki a threat to his life, but… Tony would probably think that Loki was going to bring all down around him and maybe even throw him and his associates to a cell. He’d have to change Tony’s mind as soon as he came back.

Loki put his dirty bowl on the kitchen table, where it would be immediately seen and an immediate nuisance too.

Wait. What if Tony hadn’t gone to clear his head? What if he had gone to dismantle his careful operation? Loki couldn’t have _that_. Tony had dedicated his life to it; Loki couldn’t stand seeing him tearing apart his own work… Oh, well, that was a bit unexpected. Apparently he couldn’t stand the idea of seeing Tony’s work undone. That was bad for his plans, that was sentiment, but he had to admit that he had played, in the back of his mind, with the idea of helping Tony.

He had dismissed the notion once and again, because he wouldn’t hop on a sinking ship just to have some fun on the way down. Humans wouldn’t be capable of protecting him from Odin’s wrath. Also, there was a chance that the oath of fealty that made Loki trade carefully would alert Odin if Loki were to betray Asgard willingly. It didn’t work very well, because the spell had become worn after years of Loki planning nefarious plans that helped Asgard and petty tricks that put Asgard in the middle of chaos. Nevertheless, even a minor chance would be counterproductive for the humans.

His only real choice was to throw Odin a bone, and taking Tony to Asgard as a thrall would be seen as a good move. That also left Tony’s project untouched so it could keep going without him there. It was not a perfect plan, and Tony would not survive Asgard’s style of life without a mayor change in his personality. Loki’s only other plan was to give Odin some of the main big names of the betrayal, but Tony would hate him for it.

No, Tony would rather give himself to Loki than let his plans fail. Loki would ask him. He would get an answer and they would find a solution. But first things first, he wouldn’t let Tony destroy his life’s work to go into hiding.

Loki materialized warmer clothes and walked to the door, he’d find Tony and he’d…

“Oh, there you are,” Loki said calmly when he opened the door to find Tony, keys in hand, about to enter.

“Yes, apparently, here I am.” Tony, like a prey caught in front of the hunting party, was frozen on the spot, eyes looking straight at Loki, but not into his eyes.

“Tony, I thought you…”

“Wait. Don’t speak, because it has taken me all this time to get the nerve to speak and I’m not going to lose it now just because you are in a chatty, goading mood.” Tony still stayed silently on the doormat.

“I’m listening.” Loki mocked his silence.

“Hush.” Then Tony seemed to come to a decision and pushed Loki’s chest, making him walk backwards and closing the door behind him. Then he looked into Loki’s eyes an inch away from him and seemed to lose his courage.

Tony turned and walked to the living room, where he paced restlessly and messed up his own hair. Loki, in counterpoint, went to the couch in sedate movements, sat himself and watched Tony wear the carpet down in an anxious circle.

“So…”

“Hush! I want to do this! I do! But…” Tony stopped his pacing and looked at Loki. “I don’t know if I should.” Then he deflated and walked into Loki’s space, right between his spread legs, avoiding once more looking at Loki. “No. Truth is, I know I shouldn’t do this.”

Loki leant forward, searching Tony’s eyes, because he had an inkling of what the human was going to say. “Listen…”

“No, wait, you listen. I… I can’t just say it.” Tony got even closer, with one knee on each of Loki’s sides, and he sat on Loki’s thighs.

They had been in that exact position many times. They had been in the opposite position just as many times, and still, neither of them had ever looked as dispirited as Tony in that moment. Loki cupped his neck and pushed Tony’s jaw up with his thumbs so he’d finally meet his eyes.

 They had kissed before, but this smelled -almost tasted- completely different, like a deeper promise.

“I have a few words to tell you,” Tony finally said quietly. “But I don’t trust you.” His eyes were challenging Loki to say any different.

“You don’t.” Loki answered, understanding their complicated situation.

“Not at all, so, maybe you’ll hate me for asking this of you, but I want you to agree to the same failsafe as we used for our deal. You won’t use the words I say in this room against me or mine and you won’t tell anyone about them.”

“If that is what it takes for you to say it, I agree.” Loki was impatient, he wanted to hear Tony say it. It would make it so much easier to suggest his plan to take Tony to Asgard later.

Both of them felt the magic binding them change, and Tony didn’t waste any time. He breathed deeply and confessed in a single exhalation.

“I’m building a new realm away from Odin’s rule.”

That was not the confession Loki had expected. Tony sat up and looked at Loki expectantly, preparing to flee if needed, examining Loki’s face in search for a clue that would tell him if the god was mad or murderously mad. Loki’s face, however, was blank; staring at the human and taken completely by surprise. Loki was simply in shock.

Tony used his silence well and all the information that he had been compiling for a year was falling from Tony’s lips like a river after a harsh winter had stilled its flow. It was all there; names, locations, plans, lies, magic, science… all neatly summarized, all confirmed, and suddenly, as per their deal, out of reach. Tony had effectively tricked him, had sewn his lips shut.

And now Tony had that wary, pained face, like his world was falling apart. He had no right to wear that face when Loki’s plans were the ones falling apart. All the year wasted, and still…

“I love you.” Loki blurted out like he had never done in the face of a master trick. Once he realized what had come out of his mouth, he smiled crookedly “Oh, you despicable bastard-spawn of vermin, I do love you.”

His laughter might have sounded hysteric and crazed, but the human had just found the best solution to his troubles. He could hop on that sinking ship and work with Tony against Asgard because Tony had tricked him, because now his oath of fealty wouldn’t alert Odin, because Loki was not betraying Asgard _willingly._ In Loki’s opinion, the best part was that Tony had solved it without knowing the problem even existed.

“You, magnificent conman, might just be able to save that oncoming disaster you call a plan, with my help.” Loki jumped from the couch and took a bewildered Tony from the waist and twirled him once before the human had a chance to speak.

“What is this? You are supposed to be mad.”

“I told you I’d welcome anything that’d imply a headache for Asgard, and you couldn’t have given me a better opportunity if you tried. What are you so surprised about?”

Tony huffed in confused amusement. “Are you not going to seek retribution for tricking you?”

“Retribution?” Loki grinned at the human still between his arms. He pushed them even closer until he could trace Tony’s ear with the tip of his nose. “Today you are full of interesting ideas. Let’s see how I might extract my revenge from you.”

Loki moved a hand lower, under his clothes, and pushed Tony when he reached the tailbone so he would feel Loki’s half-hard erection. Tony gasped and Loki was tempted to laugh. It seemed Tony was still wary, jumpy and expecting some kind of punishment from just around the corner.

Loki moved his hand further down to tease Tony’s hole with his middle finger. Despite his doubts, Tony ground his hips forward and relaxed his shoulders a fraction, which earned him a smug look from Loki. Tony’s answer to that face was sometimes unexpected, but always wild.

Whatever retribution Tony had been expecting could wait. Tony hooked his hand in Loki’s nape and pulled them into a feverish kiss, sucking and biting so fiercely that Loki started to doubt who had instigated it.

Tony had learnt, at some point during the last year, that Loki loved feeling fingers on his throat, and back. He used that knowledge unashamedly against Loki whenever he pleased, and right now, Loki had been so lost in the rough texture of the fingers on his throat that he had not noticed Tony’s other hand expertly opening all the buckles of his outfit.

Loki retaliated threading his hand in Tony’s hair so it cradled the back of his head. That move was usually followed by Tony sighing and rubbing himself against Loki’s hand. Pulling Tony’s short hair Loki maneuvered them to the bedroom and made Tony lose his shoes on the way there.

Once the shoes were gone, Tony seemed to decide that the rest had to go too, and he was bare to Loki’s appreciative look faster than if Loki had used a spell. Tony sat at the foot of the bed and moved backwards while Loki enjoyed a certain feeling of power and ownership. It was a feeling that came easily whenever Loki happened to be still dressed while Tony was naked, eager and wanton. Every little shameless gesture from Tony, every sound, every twitch of every muscle went straight to make Loki’s blood sing.

Loki crawled up Tony’s body, between his welcoming legs, scratching his thighs as he knew Tony loved. Fortunately, his shape shifting abilities let him grow nails whenever he wanted to hurt Tony on purpose. Tony didn’t disappoint and inhaled sharply while goose bumps appeared all over him, Loki amused himself kissing the skin over his navel until he felt Tony relax again. Then he scratched his sides and took the head of his cock in his mouth until he got a moan and Tony’s hands flew to his head.

With a private smirk, Loki left the leaking cock and he felt Tony’s hand twitch minutely in his hair before it disentangled. Loki took off his jacket and kept disrobing under Tony’s attentive eyes. The human put his hands behind his head and looked far more relaxed than what his erect cock let on.

Loki got rid of the last of his clothes and caressed Tony from his ankles up, teasing his perineum with a thumb, but quickly turning to hook his hands on Tony’s hips. Tony pushed up against them, knowing that Loki would hold him down to feel the rush of power of the little controlling gesture.

Tony sat up as soon as Loki’s hold lessened and fixed on biting his neck. Loki let him until he noticed that Tony had threaded their fingers at the same time. For anyone else it would be a gentle gesture, but for them…

“That’s more like it,” Tony said with a smirk as he took his fingers back covered in lube.

Tony wiggled forward until he was sitting on Loki’s lap. With his unlubed hand, he took one of Loki’s and guided it to grab his ass. Loki didn’t have to be told twice and he spread Tony’s asscheeks with both hands and honest relish, pulling Tony even closer, until their cocks were pressed together and both of them gasped.

Tony renewed his attack on Loki’s neck and locked his left arm around Loki’s shoulders, but now Loki’s attention was divided between his ministrations and feeling, but mostly guessing, what Tony’s hand was doing. Normally he liked watching how that tight hole relaxed and stretched, but feeling the languid movement of Tony’s wrist and nothing more was driving him crazy.

Loki repeated the same spell as before, shifted his nails shorter and let go of Tony’s cheek, only to join the two fingers that were scissoring Tony open and nudging a third of his own. Tony’s surprise was most evident in the way he bit harder and tensed. Loki could have been worried, but in the next thrust in, Tony took Loki’s middle finger between both of his, locked between his knuckles, and kept the three digits inside.

Loki waited a second and kissed Tony’s temple, although what he really wanted was to rut until oblivion. Tony unhooked his arm from Loki’s shoulders and took both of their erections in hand while Loki moved his iron grip from Tony’s ass to his back. Loki only waited until he felt Tony loosen; he covered Tony’s hand with his own and moved both of them in and out of Tony’s body.

Tony’s grip on their cocks faltered, but came back with renewed vigor when Loki made a very obvious move with his finger trying to reach Tony’s prostate. The position was awkward and Loki couldn’t quite reach it, but the anticipation was enough to make Tony writhe and let go of what he had in hand to avoid spilling too soon.

Tony might be ecstatic with it, but Loki wanted more. He pulled out, took Tony’s fingers with him despite the mild protests, kissed his complaints away, and pushed Tony back to lie on the bed. Once there, Loki used three fingers and the new position to stroke Tony’s prostate to his heart’s content, which turned out to be until Tony was mewling, and breathless, panting his name.

Tony was so out of it that Loki wondered if… He made a spear with four fingers and pushed. Tony arched beautifully, breath heavy, hands fisted in the sheets, ass stretched and welcoming Loki’s careful thrusts… Loki wanted to go on, he enjoyed watching Tony reach the breaking point and still push further willingly, listen to him cry until the line of acceptable pain was pushed far to make room for pleasure, but he didn’t have the patience today.

Loki took mercy on both of them. He dragged his fingers out, and took pleasure in Tony’s barely-there gesture to keep the hand in, disguised immediately as a shameless spread of his legs. Loki accepted the invitation, held Tony’s hips and lined up after smearing any remaining lube on his length. He pushed until he was fully in and didn’t waste any time in waiting.

After a few thrusts, he was pounding Tony with the same abandon with which little encouragements fell from Tony’s lips. Tony only stopped his long string of “Yes”, “keep going”, “ruin me” and “come on” when his mouth was otherwise occupied with Loki’s or sucking on his fingers like there was a prize.

“Loki, harder, claim me, make me feel it, make me shout it, fill me until there is more cum than brains in me.” Loki would have given a prize to that filthy mouth any day indeed. Whether it was full of words, fingers or his cock.  “And once I’m feeling boneless…” Tony stabbed Loki’s kidneys with his heels. “…like liquid pleasure underneath you, once I can’t go on, once you’ve drained me, then…” and dragged Loki down until he could slip his words intimately into his ear.

“Then let’s do it again.”

Loki’s world became sharply white with those words, and he thrust into Tony until he was done. When thought came back into Loki’s mind, he wriggled a hand between them to squeeze and he wove words of his own.

“Look what you make of me; I could get lost in you. Your natural state is like this; taking all the pleasure I can give you. You have an insatiable desire instead of blood and if it was up to me, we wouldn’t ever leave this room. I would have you here, compliant in a daze of bliss. I wouldn’t even stop while I fed you. You’d only be free of my torture when you fell unconscious, but you’d wake up with me sucking you off.” Loki sped up as he felt Tony tensing. “And if you ever managed to exhaust me, I’d conjure a clone to keep giving you what you so desperately seek. Tony, I’d fuck you until we destroyed each other.”

Tony had such a handsome face when satisfaction crossed it. Loki would gladly make good on the promise of keeping him in permanent pleasure, but he enjoyed other facets of him too much to give them up. Like the twist of mind that had taken them to this very position. As much as he liked the idea of a bedwarmer, a pleasure slave, it was just a private fantasy that they shared. Tony was made of passion and thought in equal measures, taking one of them away would be a crime.

For now, Tony’s mind was far away and only coming back to demand sleep. Their threats would become true some other day, because the way they untangled, slowed their breath, and repositioned themselves was indicative of a long restful night.

“One day I’ll make you tell me what you were thinking to decide that your best plan was tricking a trickster.”

Tony chuckled. “Yeah, make me.”

Loki sighed, amused and tired. “Oh, Norns help me; I love you and the way you think.”

Loki was aware that Tony was still awake, had heard him, and he knew Tony’s lack of answer was not a coincidence, but still he slept restfully.

 


	4. Chapter 4

It was possible that Tony was still in shock. There had been many shocking things in one night. First of all, his own slip; it had been such a silly mistake, easily avoidable. And then his risky plan to lure Loki with sentiment into a very simple trap. It shouldn’t have worked. Tony was hoping that Loki would agree just to laugh at Tony’s senseless feelings, but Tony had been very close to aborting the whole plot when he saw the way Loki’s eyes shined with something akin to hope.

And then Tony had gone through with it, despite the risk of being dismembered by godly wrath. And he was still alive! Somehow! Tired but alive. Tony had gambled and won all the bets on the table, well, more like all the money in Las Vegas. He saved the plan and got a willing and helpful seidrman, and the information about Asgard, from a former _prince_ of Asgard, and the sex buddy.

And Loki had dropped the Love thing. There was the nail in the coffin of Tony’s chronic state of shock. It could have been just a saying uttered in the thrill of the moment, but he had repeated it later. Then again, everyone knew the silver rule; never trust something said in the afterglow.

Truth be told, Tony didn’t know if he wanted to believe or not. He had liked the twisted mind of the guy very early on, and he had spent long months reigning in any kind of feeling until it was under control. Now he was sort of numb to it. He had silenced any kind of feeling coming that way and Loki’s (maybe) confession hadn’t been enough to give it voice again. There was just shock.

And there was still so much to do that he couldn’t afford to open that can of worms now. He had alerted the compound of the development and the fifth floor had almost torn him a new one for his troubles. Now he had to negotiate with them so they would let Loki visit the place.

He had friends and colleagues to update, since he had been virtually gone for a year. He had people to appease and smaller projects to check on. He had a ton of questions for Loki now that it didn’t matter how much he knew. Also, corrections: everyone had been doing things wrong and misinterpreting his reports, so the magic that should have helped to make things go faster was completely underdeveloped.

It was fortunate that he had so much to do, because at the compound, decisions took a long time. “Our deal ends this week.”

“Oh, darling, you remembered.” Loki said with a mocking, singing voice.

“My last deal with you and my promise of silence stand, but some will argue that it is not enough.”

Still they started their negotiations to include Loki in the project, or at least let him evaluate all once to see what he could help with. When word came that Tony would be allowed to show Loki the project, it came with a lot of restrictions, and the final day of their deal had come and gone without fanfare. They had drafted a new one to keep Loki’s fealty oath appeased as well as any untrusting human. This one they could discuss with anyone and it didn’t include living arrangements or bed partners, but Tony didn’t feel like changing something that worked.

Now that Loki was in the picture, Tony knew that trying to keep things from him would be a terrible idea and only push him further into finding, revealing, and making use of their plans for his benefit. No. They needed full disclosure with Loki crazy as it sounded; if they wanted to go on, they needed Loki on the same boat as them, if only to dissuade him from sinking it.

Their evacuation plans were in place, all the silent alarms had started it their presence and most of the humans involved had to be already in the multiple hidden panic rooms in each floor. If Loki decided to betray Tony, only Tony would fall, not the whole plan. For now.

Their visit to the base was solitary, since everything and everyone but the bedrock level had been locked up and secured. Tony was nervous and still wondering if it was some great plan to fool him, if he had maybe left a loophole for Loki to use against him and if the Asgardian would actually use it.

And by the looks of it Loki was aware of his jittery nerves, of how much it had cost him to let Loki in.

“You make it painfully obvious that even after all this time, I’m still not trusted.” Tony didn’t answer that. He knew he was broken, he barely trusted his friends, and he wasn’t going to trust him more than them. “This is no way of working with a partner.” Loki stopped right after the first security control. He had to know there were a thousand microphones listening in to their conversation, he was clever enough to work that out.

“It is the way I work with most partners,” Tony said casually.

“As I do myself, but you are an exception and I find myself wanting your trust, so before we proceed, let me tell you something.”

“And what will change?”

“It is not something nice. It is, in fact, something that, by all accounts, should shatter your trust in me.”

Oh, clever. Throwing out there something that could potentially put an end to their tentative relationship and their barely-there trust, or become the building stone of something bigger. If Tony could go on with the plan despite what Loki had to say, even more, if he was willing to defend Loki from anyone on the other side of those microphones, it would prove that whatever trust they had was enough, and if not, well it was not too late to step back and say goodbye.

 “Come into the elevator and tell me on our way there,” Tony said showing him the way. “The ride is long and the doors won’t open if I don’t request it, right, guys?.”

The elevator doors closed behind them.

***

 The doors opened after a very long while. However, Tony didn’t have as many doubts as before. Especially after he had spent the last fifteen minutes arguing with level five so they would open the door for them. Finally, he let the god of chaos into their carefully planned world with a sense of tranquility. Down in the lowest level, Loki found their world, literally.

First, there was a hall with many gateways. Each of them was labeled, and seemed to lead to a different place. Tony guided Loki to a door labeled “Long range” and opened it to show him space, and a blue, green, brown and white sphere that couldn’t be mistaken by anything but a planet capable of sustaining life. Loki noticed the lights in the dark side with some surprise; it was an inhabited planet with intelligent life. But Loki had never seen it in any of his trips, so it had to be new.

“We couldn’t take back Earth,” Tony explained, looking longingly at the strange planet. “Because there are many humans who like the way things are now, so we put together all of our resources and engineered a New Earth. Jane, she’ll want to talk to you about the Bifrost, opened portals until we found a suitable planet that we terraformed it from scratch.”

Tony closed the gate and opened another one that led to some kind of forest. “In this stage we are introducing complex animal life in sustainable habitats. Bruce and his team designed sustainable ecosystems and life with enough variety to let the creatures in there evolve at their own rhythm.”

He closed the forest door and opened another one to a city of wide streets and low buildings that looked abandoned. “The cities are still empty except for some working areas and monitoring posts, but they are fully functional and sustainable too, even accounting for long lives and a population growth.”

Loki was surprised. Very much so, because he had heard tales of colonization of habitable planets, but it had happened casually, without care or control. This wasn’t it, this was carefully meditated. They had taken an inhospitable planet and built their future home out of nothing, scavenging from Midgard.

“Some days I think it is the coward’s way. Running away, letting most of humanity stay here under Odin’s rule. But they like it, you know? They really do, and they can’t imagine anything better because they don’t know any better. Sure, they want less taxes, and affordable coffee and a representative in Asgard, but anything game changing scares them more than Odin does. They can survive and that’s all they want. Who are we to force them to go to a war that will prove them right? It would leave humanity free, but beaten, and resourceless, and miserable. It might be cowardice, but I couldn’t do it.” Tony looked through the door and kept quiet.

“How do you call it?” Loki spoke for the first time.

“Tenheim.” Loki arched an eyebrow at Tony’s sudden and flippant smile. “So people living there can be called Tenants.”

Loki turned away from his stupid smile and walked into the lonely city. After a moment, Tony joined him in a leisure walk that seemed to reveal new landscapes even to Tony.

“Tiundigard,” Loki said out of nowhere.

“What?”

“That’s the word formation you are looking for if you mean to say _the tenth land,_ but I don’t know why you’d use Asgardian grammar to give your independent land a name.”

“Because calling it Tonyworld makes me think of children, overpriced food, and fancy roller coasters, New Earth sounds like a byproduct and we don’t want to repeat history.” Tony looked at a building that was supposed to be some kind of docking or station, in prime condition, but unused; exactly the opposite of ruins. “Tiundigard will be the outside name, same as Alfheim has an elf name that outsiders are not allowed to pronounce, but we call this the project Bedrock and I guess it will become its name.”

Loki considered all he had seen, the buildings and the outskirts, considered the level of detail, considered the amount of time spent creating this vacant home and he truly understood, maybe for the first time, the value of their new beginning.

“Yours is a worthy task indeed.”

“Worthy enough to hang it among the other realms? Because if we don’t manage to make it its own nation, Asgard will just come and declare it part of Midgard under their protection. This planet can still be seen from Midgard with strong enough telescopes, we are lucky the light from this star is too bright through Midgard’s protective blue shield, but we won’t always be lucky, we need to turn this beauty into a realm, and soon.”

Loki knew it would be their great last step, but he was not the right person Tony should talk to. Who, but the Norns, knew how the realms had really formed? Many had tried to untangle the origins of the worlds, but the middle point between a huge implosion and the established Nine Realms was unrecorded history and still a big subject of ongoing study in Asgard.

“Tony,” he said slowly, knowing the kind of disappointment Tony was about to suffer. “Do I look like someone who has ever been bored enough to try and turn a planet into a realm?”

“Maybe?” Tony smiled charmingly. “You commune with Yggdrasil to use magic, right? I thought maybe you could put in a good word for us.”

“…No.” Tony’s idea had some merit thought. “But I have been on occasion bored enough to try to communicate with Yggdrasil indeed.”

“And what do you need to do? Or what do I need to do?” Tony seemed eager for what was at best a long shot.

“Find one of its roots and let it fuse with your limbic system.”

“Excuse me, fuse?!”

“I think it uses parts of your nervous system too, but I’m not an anatomist. It is a rather painless process if it is done my way.”

“And… that’s it?” Tony said as doubt started to shadow his dreams, Loki could almost see it.

“No! How can you even think that? That is the way to open a channel. Then you have to find a common language, and despite what you might think, mathematics are not the solution, not even allspeak.”

“But, _you_ can talk to it. You could do it for us.”

“I can, in a way of speaking, but Yggdrasil is slow and it learns about you as you learn about it. It won’t listen to me about this because it doesn’t expect me to ask that kind of question.” Loki turned back to the door where they had entered and to the elevators. He knew getting out would be as difficult as getting in, so he wanted to start as soon as possible. “You must understand that following a single life is incredibly difficult for a being that is larger than anything known and entirely made out of energy.”

“And, what do you two talk about?”

“Jealous, human?” Loki smirked, knowing that there was not an ounce of jealousy in Tony, but making him a little uncomfortable was an opportunity he wouldn’t let go. When Tony stayed silent Loki answered. “We talk about magic, energies beyond even magic. Yggdrasil likes talking about stories, but I think that is because big sagas, the ones that live on through millennia, are more familiar than singular stories. I can’t tell you more, because I’ve been studying it for centuries and I still have not found a pattern. It likes repetitions and order, but then I discover that it likes breaking the order just as much.”

“Do you know the truth? Did it… create life? Or just…”

“I don’t know, Tony!” Loki got finally tired of answering.

He was not tired of answering, not really, but he was tired of answering to Tony, who was clever and educated, and should have already known about half the questions he posed. But, above all, he was tired of realizing he only had himself to blame. If he had not recommended Odin the ban on higher education on Midgard Tony would be by now one of the best thinkers in the Nine.

Alas, he was just above average with his limited access to resources. It was a hurtful situation, realizing the damage he had done to Tony unintentionally to regain some ground in Asgard. Loki could only avoid looking into Tony’s eyes and answer curtly. “Ask Yggdrasil yourself.”

***

As two wise Midgardians once said, “most books on seidrcraft will tell you that seiðkonas work naked. This is because most books on seidrcraft are written by men.” Loki had had to navigate those books himself and it had taken him a lot of time to work out that part, but right now, with Tony concentrated on reaching Yggdrasil, he wouldn’t have minded a more interesting view of the still (and, unfortunately, dressed) man. Meditation became boring quite quickly if one was not the one doing the meditation part.

“Don’t overwhelm it. Try to push big concepts.” Loki reminded him once again.

“I want to talk about planets and realms; I can’t go that much bigger.” Loki raised his skeptical eyebrow, but didn’t comment further. He was getting completely bored there, and the pain he was to monitor hadn’t started.

In the end, for Tony the process was completely painless, similar to falling asleep, but maybe it was because there was no magic flowing through his body, so Yggdrasil didn’t need to share space within Tony. It was also strange as a feverish dream, because Tony felt like losing control of his body as he gained command of the space around him. It was a faint feeling, like knowing he had new limbs, but being unable to move them or feel with them.

Tony wasn’t aware of how much Yggdrasil encompassed until he felt it _shift_. The pulse went through him and through the entity and Tony could feel the pulse expanding everywhere. For a confusing moment, Tony felt ridiculously small and incredibly huge at the same time. The feeling seemed to attract Yggdrasil’s attention, because then Tony felt a jolt in the very physical body that he had almost forgotten in its insignificance.

I was a prodding, and Tony wondered if it was the same feeling that Yggdrasil felt when a meddling human tried to commune or whatever this was called. But he was getting distracted; that was not why he had done all this. Instead, he tried to recall all his astronomy and astropolitics lessons while Yggdrasil spasmed in him, seeming to learn what was that new part of it.

Tony couldn’t be sure, but he thought it might be his body spasming, and maybe Loki would be back there having a minor heart attack, but Tony was numb to it all, he had to think big at that thing, he had to think worlds at it, he had to push his thoughts, project them, he had… It was not working. Yggdrasil was ignoring him completely.

Tony was clearly thinking at the void, so he followed the jolts and moved consciously any muscle that the thing was exploring at the moment. Tony didn’t understand it, because it was exploring such small things when Loki said big was… Wow!

It had been looking for his brain! That’s what it had done; it had followed Tony’s neural commands to the brain and now it was stomping without a care. From Loki’s outside perspective, it must have looked like a seizure. Tony’s body was getting signals everywhere to move, to hate, to stop, to laugh, to think, to sleep, to relax, to mate, to cry, to speak, to science, to speak in a different language, to remember…

Tony was losing the interest of Yggdrasil in the chaos of his mind, he could feel it; so he forced his haywire brain to go blank. It took him a few tries, but he managed to grasp the relax command from its control and make it the most important thing in his brain. Once everything else was quiet enough, Tony recalled the dual feeling of hugeness and smallness. Yggdrasil seemed to understand, because it tingled once in its vastness and once within Tony.

So Loki was right, communication was possible… This was going to be much harder than he had thought. He couldn’t just think things at it.

He could, however, take that feeling of hugeness and divide it into nine parts. Yggdrasil understood, because he put Tony in one part and changed the size and position of Tony’s thoughts so it was a perfect energetic model of the Nine Realms.

Fine; realms, now he needed planets.

Tony took the other direction; himself, and thought bigger. One human, then many humans, and the animals and plants and all the energy that moved a planet, but Yggdrasil seemed confused. Tony blanked his mind again, then he took one of the nine parts and went smaller: from neighbor universes to universes, to galaxies, to solar systems and planets.

It was still confused.

Out of the blue, Tony thought of the concept of opening, gates, portals, doors... And yes, that must be Yggdrasil suggesting it. Each realm was different, but all of them had one habitable planet as the gate that communicated them.

Then Tony took their projection of the realms and pictured the shared feeling of a portal in each of them. Yggdrasil placed them helpfully in the right place. Tony thought of another portal, closed, in the realm where Yggdrasil had placed him. The reaction of the creature was moving the portal right next to the other, where it actually was. Fine, so Yggdrasil knew of their project, somehow.

Then Tony mentally dragged the closed portal outside the nine, duplicated one of the realms and placed his portal there, linked to the other nine. Tony was not sure of what Yggdrasil might understand with that, so he made a big ball of feelings and concepts of struggle, work, patience, pushing and pulling, creating… and warped with it the new realm.

Yggdrasil was quiet, moving the new realm around, trying to understand, or maybe judge or decide. It changed the realm, making it bigger or smaller, with more or less energy… Tony thought it might be calculating, but that could be his science-wired brain trying to put reason in a creature completely outside of the known array of living beings.

Then there was a very confusing thought in Tony’s mind. Two thoughts that looked like chaos and order, but Tony didn’t understand. The thought blurred. Then Tony got nausea when time was shown to him and it was too vast a concept, but Tony got that one easily and thought of future. It was a future plan, that new realm was not in the present or the past. Just to make sure it was understood, Tony linked the present with the closed portal and the future with the new realm and an open portal.

Then Tony separated the new realm from the concept of work and from the nine others. He linked concepts to the realms and to the new realm. Things like life, space, energy… all the things he thought were needed to become a realm. Then he added a thought of confusion and increased the distance with the new realm. He was trying to convey the question _why is it different?_ or _why is it not a realm?_ or _what is missing?_ An answer to any of those questions would suffice.

Yggdrasil took Tony away on a fast-paced trip. They dived into each of the realms and only stopped briefly in instances where a Jotun was mentioning Alfheim, or a Dwarf was making a statue of one of the dark elves, or elves were celebrating a feast and taunting Midgardians. Then their pace became even faster and Tony saw all the realms going through time at top speed. In the blur of ever-changing time Yggdrasil showed him small blinks where empires rose, built, stayed and fell.

Tony understood what Yggdrasil meant. A realm required history or notoriety or something similar. It needed to be alive in the minds of others because it was not something that Yggdrasil created. In fact, Tony got the impression that Yggdrasil was not some god of creation, but a creature that lived off of the energy of others. Maybe what the creature did was not so much creation, but a symbiotic creature that solidified all the links that contained energy, including thought, to live in it.

Tony felt the need to wake and tell Loki, but the claws of Yggdrasil prevented him from going back. As quick as he panicked, the claws let go, making Tony think that it was just Yggdrasil’s way of saying _come back soon_. Maybe.

When he woke, he was in an awkward and uncomfortable position with green eyes piercing him. And hungry, really hungry.

“Well?” Loki asked, interested despite himself. “What does your project need to be part of the tree? Better be good, because I thought you’d die of starvation before you got the answer.”

“Starvation… oh, fuck, how much time did I lose?”

“A week. Thank that apple Odin gave you for your survival. Now, answers, I didn’t wait around just for the pleasure of seeing you twitch and writhe.”

“Didn’t you?” Tony said lecherously, but his look was ruined when Loki presented him some kind of broth freshly teleported. “I think…” Tony devoured and talked in between stuffing his mouth. “It must be fed histories across the realms, needs to gain notoriety.”

“But it is your secret plan, and it is secret for a reason.” Loki was bewildered, but he controlled himself.

“Then the time for secrecy is over. At least part of the secrecy must go; Tenants must travel away and build a legend.”

“Is there no easier way?”

“Maybe?” Tony attacked the roll of something he couldn’t name, but knew was typically made in Alfheim, that Loki had materialized. “I’ve been thinking that if one were to convince the leaders of all the realms that it exists and is already part of the tree, it will be. Maybe it is just a matter of fake it ‘till you make it.” Then Tony noticed something. “Hey… Yggdrasil is still there!”

“Well, I _did_ say fuse.”

“What? It’s never going to go away?”

“I don’t think so, no.”

“But, it feels… empty.”

“You’ll get used to it someday.”

Tony was not so sure of that. It felt like there should be something there. It also felt like he was being denied something rightfully his, but that was a feeling he was already used to. Maybe his thirst was just making things weird; hallucinations and whatnot.

***

Tony shared his plans with headquarters a week later, because Loki and Tony could only do so much. Loathe as he was to admit it, UnderShield was quite good at all that spying business. Natasha was especially good, and she was only the best of many who were good enough.

 

_“Oh, but it is an honor to have Niflheim’s delegation in our humble realm, especially now that we have to compete with that new realm.”_

_“Of… of course, the new realm, what was it called? I don’t seem to recall…”_

_“Hmmm, let me think… Tiundigard, right.”_

_“Oh, yes, how could I forget?”_

In Midgard, slipping the rumor of a tenth realm wasn’t as difficult is it seemed. Asgard promoted tales, legends and lies to keep their subjects stupid, so rumors well aimed were not easy to control. Not allowing other realms to fully study and understand magic meant that anything was possible, any strange thing could be explained by “it must be magic”, and people were content with it.

 

_“There is a new realm growing in the tree?”_

_“Must be true, must be something the tree does and Asgard never bothered to inform us.”_

_“Of course they didn’t, that’s something too powerful for humans. There are things that no human should ever touch.”_

As Thor had said one time while passing down one of Odin’s prohibitions: “This could've been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand.”

Many people had learnt since then that efforts to actually understand what they were playing with were not appreciated; unfortunately, they had learnt the hard-as-a-hammer way. Only their peers had lived to tell the tale and spread the lesson.

As part of their plan, Tony and Loki sought help to create a symbol; a sort of signature for their world. Something that everyone involved in the project could wear on themselves or on their skin, something that they could draw in crates and in anything they manufactured.

_“We want something simple but strong and easy to remember.”_

_“We could put the name here…”_

_“No, the name is not important, the name will come on its own once it is known, we only want something iconic.”_

_“And names have power for some in the Nine, we don’t want to be found because we printed that name everywhere. No, it has to be a symbol.”_

_“Something like this?”_

_“Much better.”_

_“How about colour?”_

_“No, we want to make stamps, just one colour will be best.”_

It made them far easier to identify if Asgard decided to make them comply with justice, but Tony had noticed that since the day he distributed the pendants, people felt more united. It was very good, because if it worked with people who already knew they were in it together, it would work wonders on others.

The weird thing was that Tony actually _felt_ how the pendants worked and how people gained that feeling of belonging. It felt like energy, and Tony had a vague idea of where it might be coming from, but he didn’t have time for confirmations.

They started to work with what UnderShield already had too. People who moved anything from weapons to paper clips, was instructed to put the symbol on it and to drop the information to everyone, whether they asked or not.

 

_“This? This comes from that new realm, you know? The one with top notch material.”_

Soon enough, Midgard was convinced that Tiundigard was somewhere out there.

Tony had managed to plant the idea of Tiundigard in seven dignitaries who were visiting Midgard, all with Natasha’s help, of course. Loki had gotten to many more, but he was a renowned liar and his word was not as believable as Tony’s so he had to tell his tales among less strategically positioned pieces. It didn’t matter that he convinced thoroughly many more than Tony, it reached the ears of approximately a dozen important charges.

As soon as three or more travelling aliens were aware of the rumors, they asked each other about its veracity. Upon finding out that others had proof of Tiundigard’s existence too, they knew they held some truth, but they didn’t dare defy Asgard by asking them. Some thought the new realm had been discovered, some thought it had grown, some though Asgard had built it… the important thing was that they all thought it was real.

Then Tony’s travelling aliens would meet the ones Loki had convinced, and his tales were epic sagas of how a small contingency of humans had escaped Odin, how the ground had opened for them and, like dwarves, they had built a new world and hibernated until Yggdrasil had seen their worth and placed them in a new realm.

The lies grew and bloomed.

 


	5. Chapter 5

There was one last leader they should convince, and for that he had to be aware of Tiundigard’s existence. Rumors wouldn’t be enough with Odin, so they had to concoct something else. Loki and Tony were still debating in the flat that had become their private headquarters if letting Odin know about the realm would be the final step to make it happen or just their downfall.

“He’ll request an audience, he’ll want to see anyone who opposes him thoroughly humiliated in public.”

“That’s reassuring.”

“That’s _what you want_!”

“That’s bullshit! If we go there peacefully, he will have our heads. We need to make an entrance. Remember Yggdrasil? We need something worth telling.”

“Facts and storytelling are never the same thing, no matter the seed of truth in them.”

 “Both of us have lived most of our lives hidden in shadows, what would either of us know about making history!”

“I don’t think we belong in the shadows.”

“You don’t have to say it twice, I know.”

“I mean, in this particular story, we need protagonists, not just people playing from the shadows. And we need something moving, like betrayal, like passion, we need to weave a tale that will make people want to talk about it, and we can do that if we step into the light.”

“We? As in, Tiundigard people or as in you and I?”

“You and I should command the stage and make a spectacle out of it.”

“We might go down trying, but at least we’ll steal the show. I’m all for that plan, but I’m still not following.”

“Betrayal, Tony, I said it. We have a truce, but if we accord to break it, I can be the evil force I’ve always played, and you can go to Odin like a martyr; that is moving, that is worth telling.”

“You know, I for some time I thought you liked me. But it is obvious I was wrong, because people who like someone don’t go around telling them to offer themselves as some sacrificial goat.”

“I do like you and love you, and no, I won’t stop saying it until you tell me that it makes you uncomfortable.” Loki paused to let Tony do so, but he didn’t. “But death and sacrifice is the way of heroes who become legends. I don’t think there is much room to elude it. Think of the big sagas, both from my world and yours; you find passion in the form of hate, love, loyalty, sacrifice, fights, and deaths. Don’t you understand? Your death will be the twist to give wings to the legend. We’ll fake your death and everyone will remember, you only have to give up your life and everyone will get a new one.”

“Fake.”

“Of course fake.” Loki blinked slowly and squinted at Tony. “You were actually considering your death to give those people a realm with freedom.”

“No! As you said; a fake! Just the death of this dummy persona.”

Loki was not fooled. “With that attitude, maybe you were destined to be a legend without our plots anyway.”

“Destiny is for the meek. We’ll be legend because we worked our asses off, now what do we need?” Loki smiled sadly and Tony’s spirits fell.

“We need to break our deal so I can denounce you to Odin, and you need to trust me with your life-”

“Consider it done.”

“…And that of those who have been working in the project.”

“I… Why? Is it necessary? We can leave them out, you know, in case this doesn’t work.”

Loki sighed. “The two of us would be the evening’s comment. But if you were to lead your people, it would be grand. The once-enemy of Asgard who tended a helping hand to the realm’s prince stands to defend his people, not just himself and his dream. The evil former prince has denounced them and the tyrant, Odin, wants their death.”

“I don’t like it. Sounds pagan, like that Christianity thing they had back when Midgard was Earth.”

“You don’t have to like it, but more importantly, do you trust me with this?”

“I… Yes! Ok, I do. But let me inform our people of this, I don’t want this to become some Romeo and Juliet because we forgot to inform of our plans.”

“How responsible of you.”

“It’s been known to happen from time to time.”

***

As expected, nobody liked their plan. Humans wanted solid progress; tangible plans, measurable success, and contingencies. However, informing them was not the same thing as obeying, so after drafting plans B and C in case all went to hell, they set the plan in motion.

Odin wouldn’t be easy to convince, if only because he knew the new realm was a fact. He had studied magic for long enough to know more than many seiðkonas and his active refusal to believe in the new realm was probably the reason why Tiundigard was still only a pipe dream. However, bringing the matter to him would mean that everyone with the rumor in their heads suddenly had confirmation.

As soon as they felt all was prepared to face Odin, Loki and Tony broke their agreement.

Tony had thought there would be a moment there, a crossing of looks, some complicity… but Loki disappeared instantly, off to Asgard to inform Odin, and Tony doubted for a minute. Maybe he had just been tricked as everyone thought; maybe the project and all involved were royally screwed. It would be terribly easy for Loki to betray him now, betray him… A story of betrayal…

Those were not new thoughts for Tony; he had considered all carefully and decided to trust Loki. Once someone got Tony’s loyalty, it was difficult to change his mind. Everything would be fine. He was sure of it without a shadow of doubt.

And so it started.

They fell like flies. The people tangentially related to the project disappeared suddenly one day, there were no news about it and their families didn’t complain in the media, because that’s how Asgardian justice worked. UnderShield was not stupid, so they did two things almost at the same time: first, they rattled on Tony and sent him straight to the human justice; second, they buried the project, left the bases, and ran for the hills. Like rats abandoning the ship only to fall into ice cold water and die all the same. Asgard got to them too, eventually.

Last to go was Tony himself, he had been behind bars for the last days anyway; there was no rush to get him, apparently. Human police had only detained him, crimes against Asgard were not their jurisdiction, so when the Asgardians game to get him, the aliens didn’t even have to talk. They just walked in and the highest ranking officer was there instantly to guide them and wish them a Norns-blessed day. The rest of the agents stood as the soldiers walked by their desks and humans looked respectfully to the floor.

Tony rolled his eyes and didn’t stand from the subpar cot in his cell where he was tossing and catching a metal cup. Those were just patrol soldiers, they didn’t deserve more respect than any of those policemen, and still…

“Anthony Howardson, you are to be taken before Asgardian court for crimes against Asgard.”

“About time! Last time you got here much faster. Hey, I know you, right? It is not the first time you arrest me! Yes, I know you. How’s your kid? She wanted to join the gardeners guild, right? Did she make it?”

The soldier couldn’t hide a proud smile despite the situation.

“Yes! Congratulations! She really deserves it, the way you described it. And your face is familiar…”Tony turned to another guard while he was escorted outside to a Bifrost sigil on the ground. “You were at the longhouse, you are that guy who could spit those little bones with perfect accuracy even after four horns of mead. Awesome! Best drunken spitting marksmanship I’ve seen off Earth. Sorry, I can’t remember your name, but I do remember that at some point half the house was chanting it, something that rhymed with lime, sime, pime, phime, wime… stop me if I get close.”

By the time Tony’s bones ended their trip to the new cell, he had gained the names and history of three more guards and annoyed one out of his mind. That guy probably deserved a raise and a nice long vacation.

By comparison, his cell was hellheim in life. The first time he had been put with other random miscreants; that had been easy. Now he was not alone; his cell was shared with part of the humans who had been caught thanks to Tony and Loki. And they had been stuck in those cells for days; their hate had been festering. And now one half of the unforgivable duo was before them, helpless and left for them like a present.

Tony had not considered that part of the plan.

What followed were a handful of nightmarish days that felt like months with constant shouting matches where he couldn’t tell the truth at the risk of being overheard. His food kept being stolen or _accidentally_ fell to the floor, or Tony could see the unmistakable colour and texture of spit covering his share, his clothes turned up in rags or simply disappeared, his cot was wet because someone or some other had _mistaken_ it for the bathroom, and of course, soon enough there were the blows.

Their guards discovered soon enough that changing his cellmates after a violent scene only meant a new batch of angry people who were waiting for their turn to be even more creative. But since Asgardians didn’t have two brain cells to rub together, their only solution was to keep changing cellmates in case a group was less prone to violence. And Tony had no luck at all.

Tony had to concentrate really hard on Clint, and Bruce and the few others, who had stood for him from distant cells or at least had let him be with a disdainful look. Because the only thing that kept turning in his mind was:

“Is this the people we are building a new realm for? All the sacrifice, all the work, all the time and resources… all wasted on them?”

He had to think of the quiet ones, the ones who might be silently horrified, because it was very hard to see anyone but the ones who only wanted to humiliate him. And it became harder every day. He had to remind himself that even those filthy scumbags trying to bring him down only did it because they felt betrayed, they thought themselves heroes who were avenging their friends. They were not the enemy. Asgard was, Odin was, all this was ultimately Odin’s fault.

His fellow coworkers, transformed into animals of basic instincts, seeking blood, carving a punching bag, a victim, a culprit…

Why hadn’t Loki done his part yet? He should have done… Unless Odin had done something to him. Because Loki wouldn’t really betray him, right? Maybe all of this was Odin’s plan, so Tony would turn on Loki, turn on his fellow humans, but what if it was not? What if all that mindless hate was just the way human’s heads were wired? What if Tony’s dream of a new home was just destined to become again a history of humans being brutally cruel to each other?

By the time he was called before Odin to be judged, he only had a few rags, he smelled like a motel bathroom, had bags under his eyes and felt unspeakably hungry. The beatings hadn’t been very effective, since most of his assailants were humans and Tony had eaten an apple, but that meant his body needed tons of food, and he had only been getting scraps. And the lack of food had allowed the blows to have a little effect.

All in all, he was a dirty mess in shackles; a mess who grinned a tired smile all the way to the foot of the dais. He took the first step to talk to that old man at eye to eyes, but a couple of soldiers stopped him.

“Long time no see, your highness, to what do you owe the pleasure of my presence?” Tony knew protocol, he knew _highness_ was the address form of the prince and _your majesty_ was the one for a king, but slipping a few insults at this point wouldn’t hurt. “Or was your wish to simply contemplate this admittedly handsome visage once more?”

“Anthony Howardson, your crimes are serious, don’t make this worse than it has to be.” Odin spoke from his almighty throne.

“You didn’t leave me much room to make it worse, did you? Or do we have different definitions of _worse_? You see, the allspeak isn’t foolproof, which doesn’t speak highly of you, since I’m no fool.”

“You remind me of someone hazardous, with the added danger of verbosity and charm.” Tony would have answered that with a witticism, but he was tired and he needed to look confident and composed, so he saved his energy for a better moment. “Anthony Howardson, you stand before Asgard as an enemy again. You were pardoned and given a golden apple for your help in a time of need, but I’m choosing to revoke the pardon since you misused it blatantly.”

Great, they had not expected that, but it was only logical, there was not a law but Odin’s will, so you could only expect surprises to be nasty.

“I hereby introduce the representatives of Asgard’s powers that be and that of the other realms, since your crimes don’t seem to know boundaries. Tyr, god of justice, you may stand up, he will represent…”

And thus started the longest, most tiring and tedious legal process Tony ever had the dubious pleasure of being a part of. None of the people present had any voice or vote; they were only there to enumerate the damages they wanted to add to Odin’s list. So Tony didn’t know why bother with the presentations. Truth be told, Tony already knew most, and he only paid attention when Loki’s name was mentioned. No title, no surname, no power; just Loki.

They locked eyes for a moment and if the god felt anything at Tony’s new hobo look he hid it well.

Tony realized Thor was nowhere to be found and he knew it was no coincidence. Thor was a wild card, much worse than Loki. Thor’s loyalties were scattered. Sometimes he was Alfheim’s hero, sometimes an Avenger, sometimes a son, sometimes a brother, sometimes selfish, but always fickle and suddenly blunt when he decided he was one of those things. Odin couldn’t afford having him in that trial, and honestly, Tony and Loki couldn’t either. Would he side with Asgard, with his brother, with his shield brother, neither? Nobody knew.

Tony didn’t know, for sure. Thor claimed to be his shield brother, but he had not bothered to learn about his past or offered to help with his battles. He hadn’t even dropped for a visit in the last year and a half. He was Asgard’s heir, even though he refused to take the crown, and he expected everyone to bow despite he had refused the title. He had been with the Warriors Three until they went to see him to Alfheim and had shamed him in front of his avengers. Thor had been seeking Jotun blood for millennia, until a weekend in Alfheim and some elf chick had changed his mind and he had come back preaching peace… with his hammer.

Furthermore, he had abandoned Loki. And not only in the past. He had mourned Loki, and he had not even blinked to hunt him down when he reappeared. He had denied Loki as brother when it had been convenient, in front of his allies, and then claimed to be a brother again, then he had broken that bond after Loki’s last trick. Tony could understand being fed up with a family member, hellheim he could indeed, but after that… Loki had given his life to protect the guy’s intended.

Thor had rebuilt the bond one-sidedly when Loki died, because apparently death meant redemption. And Thor had been furious when he found out Loki was back, once again forgetting the welcome and going straight for the jugular. It seemed Thor was only a brother in death or when it was convenient.

All of it was court gossip and human gossip, but Loki had told Tony about it. It irked Tony quite a lot so he was really relieved the guy was not around.

Then Odin brought the rest of the accused humans, and Tony wondered why he was singled out. He was not the humans’ leader, he had no actual power or weight, so why? Had Loki made it look that way when he told Odin?

“…you are accused of confronting the established order, inciting others to lawless acts, hindering Asgard’s trade, avoiding the mandatory watch of Heimdalll, general deceit...”

Nice, so they were getting somewhere at last.

“…illegal construction, misuse of resources and treason. Now the Midgard representative will read the charges pressed from your home planet.”

Not getting anywhere after all. People were getting bored, even those accused, whose lives depended on the outcome of the trial. If Odin knew as much about magic as he was supposed, it wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities that he knew of their plan to make Tiundigard real. Then it would be very logical to conduct a boring trial, easy to forget, as formal as possible.

Tony knew he wasn’t the only one thinking exactly along those lines; the humans who had been informed of their plan were fuming behind Tony. And, as if their negativity was contagious, Tony could read what they were thinking. It had been Loki. Odin was set in his ways, this idea of dragging the trial was either very well-timed luck, a genial idea of shrewd leader, or the proof that Odin had inside information.

Loki, seating with the accusation part, looked at home. Tony looked at his perfect act and he couldn’t even contemplate the possibility of betrayal. It would make sense, but he simply couldn’t.

But whatever, Tony was not looking for culprits, it was not his style; he needed solutions and he needed them now.

“Really, Odin?” Tony interrupted projecting all the voice he had left. The Midgardian representative shut up. “All this mess because of a diorama that got a little out of hand in our group project?”

There was a second of silence while he breathed, but Tony didn’t let anyone fill it.

“Also, I resent being called a Midgardian; Midgard is not my home. Any human, in fact, anyone from the Nine living in Midgard knows that that planet is not a home but a huge, round, blue cage. I am a human, but my home is Tiundigard.”

“You have not understood the proceedings, Howardson. We all realize that little corner of Midgard you have named is not a problem and will never be. This is about your crimes.” Tony could see the light of understanding in the audience. _No!_ They had worked very hard to create the rumor; Odin wouldn’t sweep it under the rug that easily.

“Tiundigard is not Midgard, it is a whole new realm. I have had my doubts, I have wondered about what freedom would do to us. I doubted Tiundigard would be any better than Earth, especially after my last visit to your cells. Everyone has had doubts, but Tiundigard is not about having a perfect place with only good people. It is not a land of angels and Valkirias; it is not Valhalla. It was born out of our work, our will to do the best we can, even if it is not good enough. ”

Odin waited a moment, pretending to ponder something.

“I can see you believe what you say.” Another pause. “And since you have such faith, I can’t condemn you; I can only conclude that it is madness what guides your hand. Maybe we were too hard on you in the past and your human mind couldn’t stand it. It will be consulted with Midgardian healers, but it stands to reason that you would delude yourself into believing there was a new world of freedom in which you were ruler.”

“What?! No! You are being a condescending asshole because you know there is some place out there, for the first time in a long time, that you won’t be able to touch, because we are not power hungry or dangerous, because we want to open our doors to everyone...”

“Stop, I won’t sentence you harshly as I had planned, but I won’t indulge your delusions either. It is not healthy for the mind.”

“How can you explain them?” Tony pointed at the other humans. “There you have a lot of scientists, people who have worked for years with me. They were hard to convince, they needed proof and I gave it to them. How do you explain their participation?”

“I hear there are collective illusions too. But do you hear yourself? It must be madness talking, you realize, because I offer you a pardon, commodities, care, and we could look into treating your people in the same way, and you still insist on an illusion that, if true, would lead you straight to the gallows.”

“You offer me nothing! If I claim to be mad, you win; if I claim to be sane, I must be mad, and that is a trick I won’t allow you. I claim to be sane because I’d rather walk to the gallows right now than pretend Tiundigard is an illusion.” Odin had some kind of paternalistic shine in his eyes, and Tony hated it, because whatever he said now would only convince Asgardians of his madness.

He could see in the eyes of the attendants the difference. Asgardians had faces of disgust and pity, the representatives of the other realms had pity too, but it was mixed with sorrow and defeat, because if Tony fell now, Tiundigard’s genesis would end with him. Because stories were made of blood and sacrifice, not of a diagnosis of distorted reality perception with paranoid tendencies.

“The traitor is right there! I trusted him! I showed him our new world and he came running back to you as soon as he found a loophole. Loki was there, he saw it all."

Most of the jury turned to look at Loki, but Odin kept his condescending eyes on Tony. "Everything is as he says,” Loki stood to say. He even walked forward, but Odin didn’t pay him any mind, apparently. “I have seen the new realm; that man cannot be allowed to be free."

Odin said with a cutting tone, “Why didn’t you inform?”

“He tricked me into silence.”

There were quiet gasps and muffled laughter.

“The human tricked you?”

“Indeed. During a simple discussion he tempted me: he offered a secret of his, as long as I wouldn’t tell anyone. Since we were discussing a sentimental issue, I assumed it would be a revelation about matters of the heart and so I swore whatever was needed to listen to his petty confession and gain his trust. Then he told me about his secret plan, and I was powerless to inform anyone about it.”

There was silence and all eyes turned to Tony.

“You tricked our trickster?” said someone from the crowd, almost laughing out loud.

“Not _your_ trickster,” Loki muttered so nobody but himself would hear it.

“For some reason, I do not believe this,” Odin interrupted. “Loki’s mischief has fooled kings before. I believe you are the one who has fallen into his trap. Isn’t it? Think carefully, human. You are here because of him, are you not? And you just confessed a capital crime against Asgard because he pushed you, isn’t it right?”

That could be Loki’s plan, indeed. And it would mean that Tony was confessing his crime to the All-father himself without Loki breaking his oath.

“You must know that you are not his only victim, and I will be lenient if it is as I suspect and you are nothing but Loki’s idea of a prank.”

It was a possibility, a possibility that had not quite occurred to Tony, but that was what you got when you associated with conmen and started to trust one of them. You were fucked, and you don’t even realize until it is too late. Tony was afraid of looking at Loki, afraid of a smug smile or what a simple blank expression could mean.

Tony looked at Odin instead. He was the real enemy here, there was a chance of Loki betraying them, yes, but Tony couldn’t think of Loki that way. He could think of the plan, the logistics of it, the twists and lies needed and the benefits to the liar, but once he paired it up with Loki… no. It might be a minor miracle of nature, but Tony trusted the liar.

Doubt was very close to Tony’s heart but it couldn’t quite touch it; Tony refused to believe Loki had betrayed them… him. It might be the first time Tony hushed his scientist side, the one that saw the odds, the facts, the probabilities… It was an act of what could almost be called faith: all trust, all belief.

Never mind Loki’s face, Tony chanced a look at Loki when the realization hit him; it was trust and it was conviction, and it had been for a very long time. Tony had kept it quiet and controlled, too controlled, so controlled that he had never told Loki he loved him. He was going to have to remedy that as soon as they were out of that mess.

For now, he looked at Odin again. Odin must have seen the defiance in his eyes, because he turned to Loki.

"According to what you told me, you have known about this for more than a year, you have known about this coup, but you have not come to tell us until now. I would wonder why, but is only logical: you needed time to create the necessary proof that would give wings to your lies.” Loki frowned but said nothing, waiting until Odin was finished. “That is why Heimdalll couldn't see you. That is why you let the human think he had tricked you.

“I’m afraid you don't know him as I do," Odin used his paternalistic voice on Tony again. 

Tony was growing to hate that tone of voice. "I do, he's a traitor, there's not much more to know about him."

"He is, but this is not about betraying you, but about fooling us again, fooling Asgard."

Odin walked down the stairs of the throne.

"He came to me the very first day you came to Asgard. He manipulated one of my trusted servants in a way so Amora would do his work for him. He spent a year poisoning your mind and using your fragile state."

It would be hard to tell who was more shocked, either Tony or Loki. However, it was Loki who talked.

"Spying for Asgard!" He shouted. "I was spying for Asgard! I can’t be a son again, nor a brother, that kind of love has died, but the king of this realm still holds my respect."

"And that's the reason why you did it.” Odin interrupted Loki again. “You pushed Howardson to think that his fantasies were true. You concocted a plan with him, made him think you were his ally, and it was only to betray him now and come before us as the hero who uncovered his evil plan."

Loki couldn't find the words again. He wasn't sure if Odin really thought that or if it was all just part of his plan to make them fail. Both were valid possibilities.

"You are losing our time. Your illusions" he pointed at Tony, "And your tricks" he pointed at Loki still within reach of the jury. "Neither of them have power over me, nor over Asgard."

Tony started to feel their story dying a slow death; slow and agonal. He felt it; that emptiness he had been feeling since Yggdrasil took root in his body had started to collapse. It was disappearing, rendering all as it was, and Tony couldn't let it happen.

"Oh, we have power, all right, because we have worked for it." His words did nothing to stop the feeling of collapsing inside him.

"Howardson! You must come to your senses! You might think he is, but Loki is not helping you. He would never consider you an ally, but a goat to pull the carriage of his deception.”

Tony ignored Odin. "Tiundigard stands today before Asgard to announce its existence, and Loki is one of us, whether you like it or not."

"Loki is not who you think he is."

“What, are you going to tell me some deep dark secret? Something shocking and horrible? Like, I don’t know, oh, wait, were you planning to tell me that Loki is a Jotun? Well, guess what, he told me himself long ago and here we are still, not giving a flying fuck.”

“It is not what I was going to say. Loki grew up in Asgard and he has proven many times that he is a capricious monster capable of far more harm than any Jotun. No. I know he is worse than any of those monsters; I let him stay because I thought that way he would be somewhat contained instead of roaming the Nine and burning them.”

“Roaming the Ten, from now on.”

“He is not your companion, Howardson.”

"And who do _you_ think he is?"

"He has done this before! You can’t trust him because he gave humanity to me, as a gift, so the Infinity War would happen far from here. He planned everything so humans would kneel before us willingly and without a fight. So they would fight for us, die in our stead."

The Aesir were staggered at the implications. So their last political move and the best in the last millennia, the move that had kept their homes and families safe, hadn’t come from the hand of Odin… but from Loki? And Odin had hidden the fact?

"He made Midgard into the realm you want to flee now."

After a brief silence, there was manic laughter coming from the human. It didn’t help to make him seem sane. "Is that supposed to be your final checkmate?" Tony waited for an answer that didn’t come. "He told me. He explained how he conquered Midgard Maquiavelo–style."

"And you still let yourself be fooled this way?" But it was time for Odin to wait for an answer that never came. "You prove yourself out of your mind again."

"I'd say the jury is out, but it seems that the jury is actually in."

"But this is not only about you, Howardson, only in part.” Odin looked somewhere behind Tony. “I want to know what the other Midgardians will say."

His eyes roamed from Tony to the back of the room where all of the other humans were still standing and witnessing this mock of a trial; more to witness the attempt at humiliation than actual people with some agency in their trial. Tony turned too, there were some guys he had learnt to loathe in the last days there.

"We were aware!" That was Bruce, before anyone else could say a thing. Norns bless his soul.

He could see Natasha moving subtly; it looked like the ones who had been dedicating their full attention to Tony in the cells were nowhere to be found. Tony would have thought that the tiny assassin had made them disappear, but it was far more probable that she had terrorized them to hide in the middle of the group were Tony couldn't see them, right?

"And we take offence at being called Midgardians.” Oh, look, Agent Phil, how nice of  him to show up. “You could say that we were earthlings, if anything, but we are from Tiundigard, and no longer from Midgard either."

“Some of us decided to part ways with what we used to call home a long time ago.” Tony still didn’t know what was that Elliot guy’s story, but Odin obviously understood. His eyes had a dark shadow of realization that Tony would have liked to put there.

"And we decided to trust him," Natasha looked at Loki, "because we trusted Tony first."

"It saddens me,” Odin said without letting Natasha’s words time to hang and weigh over everyone, “but it looks like there are no more arguments to discuss. Either your minds are gone, or you are playing a game that stopped being funny long ago. This is your last chance to admit that this Tiundigard is a fantasy."

Tony could see Odin’s plan at work; he had used his own spies to find out what Loki was doing. He had collected all the big names who knew about Tiundigard, and now he wanted them to listen to Tony saying it was nonexistent. Of course, Tony wouldn't do such a stupid thing. The _People from Tiundigard, tenants,_ finally believed it was possible again; Loki, Tony, and most of the jury believed or wanted to believe. Odin was losing ground. Now it was just a matter of dramatic effect to solidify belief into a story.

His pulse raced and he felt a thrill, a something, a channel of energy that he didn't know how to use, but it drew attention to the empty feeling he had been trying to ignore without success, and that gave him an idea.

"Never, Odin. Tiundigard is my home. I would rather kill, maim, and die than pretend I made it up. And if you won't walk me to the gallows, I'll do it myself."

Tony breathed in, and embraced the void within.

 

 


	6. Chapter 6

Tony should be feeling the exciting energy and the all-ness of Yggdrasil, but he didn’t. He felt nothing like that. He almost panicked thinking he had done it wrong, then he panicked more because he could feel the floor against his back, an itching on his upper lip and a bit cold. If it hadn’t worked, it meant that he was still on the floor of the court room, lying like an idiot, pretending to dead, like some madman. This wouldn’t do, he needed to go into that meditation state right now.

“Enough, don’t you think? We know you can play dead.”

“That’s the only thing he can play.”

“Hey!” Tony felt himself saying. And, ok, what? Himself? That didn’t sound like himself but like a child. Tony sat up and opened his eyes. Those were a lot of children voices. What was that meant to…? Oh, look, children, owners of the voices, probably. Tony wasn’t feeling very smart. “I’m the main character for a reason.” Slowly Tony started to feel different from the boy.

“Uh! Don’t make him mad or he’ll make _you_ to play dead.”

Oh, Norns, had Odin been right when he said Tony was nuts? This seemed too elaborate for a delusion, but he had never been actually insane before. There was some kind of round stage, with empty benches surrounding it. On the stage there were holographic props and children. Particularly, the kid Tony seemed to have inhabited for a moment was walking menacingly towards a golden chair and the blindfolded boy sitting on it.

“Take that back. I make an awesome king Tony.”

The boy on the chair lifted half of the blindfold and mocked the boy with a fake goatee. “If I’m forced to be Odin, I’m going to at least enjoy being evil until the function day. I’ll take it back then. Now go nap on your blood pool.”

Blood? Tony looked at the floor. Indeed, there was a holographic display of a huge pool of blood on the floor. It looked unnaturally bright red instead of the lumpy black and artless smudge it quickly became, but despite the blood being fake, Tony had the nagging feeling nobody would survive loosing that much blood, not even an Aesir.

The young boy who was apparently playing Tony lied on the floor with a huff and played dead. A girl with a long black wig and clearly blond eyebrows jumped over the dead body protectively, sword in hand.

“He said he wanted to die and not tell you where he hid Tiundigard, fools, nobody touch him.”

“No! He must tell us where Tiundigard is.”

Then Tony noticed another girl, with a shorter black wig who was standing behind the throne and whispered something into the blind Odin’s ears. The kid had a murderous-scary smile when she looked at the public and Tony was sure she had a brilliant career as a psychopath ahead her.

“Guards, do something, we must not let his blood touch Asgard’s soil.”

A boy with golden hair and a hammer huffed both bored and tired.

“That’s not how my great grandma told me this story.”

And with that, the boy opened a can of worms.

“Yes, well, my grandma said king Tony was never a king but a scientist; old people say weird stuff when they get old.”

“No! My grandma says the one who helped Tony was not his lost half-sibling but his lover and lieutenant.”

“Well, you are right there; my grandma also says she was a sorceress, not a warrior.”

“They say Tony willed himself to die in his _lover’s_ arms. Then the _lover_ swallowed poison to die with him.”

“You are mixing it up with Midgardian literature.”

“Yeah, well, you and that _savior of all_ is all mixed up with that one Midgardian religion and you don’t see me complaining.”

“Wasn’t the lover in a different religion from Midgard?”

“What? You mean Loptr? My popa says he was a _he_ and he gave birth to a whole horse.”

“Gross.”

“Loptr. You pronounce it like that? I thought it was pronounced Lo-pe-tree.”

“You are mistaking her with Logi, the fire…”

“Wait, Logi or Loki?”

“It says Logi in the script, see? Here _Logi whispers into Odin’s ear._ ”

“Can we finish? From here on it only gets boring”

“Hush, it is my favourite part. You don’t like it because there is no more of you in it.”

“No, wait, now I want to know. Völva?”

The children all looked to some shell-like structure that seemed to hide the hologram-control deck. A face showed from behind with the universal look of “oh, shit I should have been paying attention, right?”

“You are always rambling about this, you planned this for class. Is it Loki, Logui, Loptr…?”

“Oh, that, well, they are my favourite precisely because there is not much information about them. Tony at least we know he was a human, but… well there was a huge fire in Midgard a few years after Genesis, so nobody knows their race, gender, position...”

“That’s your answer? You never shut up about them and just ‘nobody knows’.”

Hologram-girl rolled her eyes and hid behind her shell again. The holograms moved and an epic song started in the background. It must have been some cue, because everyone jumped back to their position. The hammer boy stepped forward to fight the sword girl, but after a couple clumsy hits, the pool of blood on the floor started to shine, fake-alarming everyone except Tony, who was real-alarmed.

It looked like some kind of aurora borealis or something. Like a curtain of light that froze everyone in place. And then the girl behind the shell started to talk with a grave voice that would fit a radio presenter, or a narrator.

“It was too late to fight. Life was escaping from king Tony flowing everywhere and seeking the core of Asgard, where it touched the magic that protects the golden land. Tony had died by the actions of Odin, and the early departure of that life brought an imbalance in the realms.”

The girl with the black wig threw away her sword and fell to her knees faking tears. Someone should give her an Oscar, because it really looked like she had just lost someone really important. Tony’s breath almost caught when hammer-boy lifted his weapon to finish her off and she turned dramatically.

“If his blood won’t quench your thirst, have mine too, but let our people leave.”

She looked defeated, lifting her shield without much conviction and ready to accept a final blow.

Then the shining aurora-weird-blood-thing kind of exploded before hammer-boy and it turned into a mirror, the kind of distorted mirror that could be seen in the house of horrors, except the reflection seemed like augmented reality. Midgard was nowhere near that kind of technology thanks to Asgard’s intervention. The narrator’s voice continued.

 “There was blood on the floor, blood on the walls, blood on their minds, but only ice in their hearts, and from the depths of Yggdrasil, Tony’s blood came with enough life for one last act, thanks to his sacrifice.”

Children on the stage started to move here and there, like they were scared out of their minds. Tony couldn’t take his eyes from the motionless boy on the floor and the dark haired one.

“Asgardians saw their reflections and they could see the darkest part of their minds. It was unspeakably rotten and its malice scared even the hardened warriors. The visions were so daunting that all the Asgardians present lost their minds that day. Even the blind tyrant could see one last time in his life, and it is said that the nightmarish vision was stuck to his eyelids until the day of his death.”

All the ones who seemed to be Asgardians ran from the stage in that moment.

“But for those who carried Tiundigard in their minds, there were only visions of a new world.” Tony could hear sound effects of birds and fountains and all things pure, not quite the place he had terraformed with the others. “They approached the visions before them, longing for that world far from Asgard, and the mirrors turned gates, and the gates set them free”

The other half of the children at the stage left in a blinding light and only the Tony and Loki actors remained. Tony looked at them with some hope, maybe a saving kiss? That happened on films, right? And this was just like a film.

“My lady,” another boy came in, interrupting the moment of grief. “You must come.”

“It is not fair,” she whispered loudly. “He should see our world and I can’t even bring his body with us.”

“My lady?”

“He is the gate, he can’t go through it. How can I go and leave him behind? He should have been able to see it, his fight, his sacrifice… all for nothing.”

“He…”

The actress turned to the intruder with a kind of white-hot rage that Tony recognized as pure Loki. “Don’t you dare finish that!” The girl stood and made the intruder back off. “He will _not_ live for as long as we remember. He will _not_ live on in our legacy. Those are platitudes that I won’t hear. He was alive and now he is not, there is no more to it. He is gone, he is no more and I didn’t have enough time. _HE_ didn’t have enough time. How can I leave him and build a life on his death?”

“My lady, I believe the question is; how could you _not_? Will you let go to waste his sacrifice?”

“Don’t be stupid. I don’t need your prodding to move on, but…” The actress looked longingly at the fallen body. “I can’t leave him here.” She kneeled again and she kissed the boy’s forehead. Tony still hoped for a saving kiss. Once again there was a flash of magic and the young actress stood. “That will make his body disappear into Yggdrasil; Asgardians won’t have him if I can do something about it.”

It was not said with any comfort, but with rage fuelled by sadness and a feeling of helplessness. Both left the stage and lights dimmed. The narrator was talking again, maybe about the next act, but Tony was not listening. The message was loud and clear, Tony didn’t need more and if there was something showing this to him, it seemed to agree.

The vision started to fade and Tony fell into the embrace of darkness for a second time.

Tony was not too happy about dying, but if his life could somehow be channeled to make Tiundgard exist, well, it was probably worth it. And he was Tony, the vigilante, the Iron Man, he would find some way of coming back, right? With that in mind, it was easier to let go and consider how to transform his life into a different kind of energy. While he was at it, he felt the electrifying touch of Yggdrasil he had expected when he had fallen.

***

Meanwhile, people who were still in touch with their bodies were baffled and immobile as Tony dropped dead before their eyes. Loki finally ignored their plan and jumped to Tony's side. He reached his prone form and he saw red, literally; there was blood on the floor. Tony had hit his head on a step when he fell and he was bleeding profusely. Loki tried to cover the wound. The wound was not enough to fret, but he had read enough human last-resort plans where agents bite a poison pill hidden in their teeth to worry about what Tony might have decided to do now.

"Come on, you are an oaf; we said we would pretend your death. Don't do this to me."

Odin commanded, “Everyone, stay where you are. It is just one of their acts. Don't pay any attention." From the corner of his eye he could see the guards standing still while a few humans ran by his side to help Tony.

Then Tony started to have a seizure and Loki realized with relief that Tony was just communicating with Yggdrasil. While Loki breathed in relief because Tony was as safe as he could be, the humans by his side and Odin had the opposite reaction.

"You had the gall to poison him! Just for this doomed show! Guards, take him to the healer. And take Loki to the dungeons.”

It was fortunate that Tony had explained the secondary effects of communicating with Yggdrasil to his friends or Loki would be in much more trouble fighting both friends and foes. Loki let Tony on the floor to his seizures; he uncoiled and hit the closest guard in the same move. He used his magic to create at dome of energy around Tony.

"You would let him die for this?"

"I hate to see him go,” Loki improvised, “because I had finally found someone I could be loyal to, someone who was far more worthy than you. However, everyone here heard him: he'd rather die than leave Tiundigard for dead."

There was another voice behind Loki who said "we all would." It was said quietly and Loki saw it was Elliott, the strangled Asgardian. Loki wasted moments wondering what strange loyalties Tony drew to himself.

After an adequate pause, to let the voice of a true Aesir ring through the throne room and echo in other Aesir’s minds, Loki talked to Odin, "and if this is how it ends, let the world know that the tenth realm won't go down without a fight."

Humans were reluctant and unarmed, but this was the way. Odin wouldn't be able to dismiss a fight in the heart of Asgard with so many witnesses. They only had to make a ruckus and flee through a pathway before Odin got them. Loki got close to the frightened group that was instinctively making a defensive circle, a very unwise choice.

However, this was not the plan, this was improvisation and Loki hated it.

The guards didn't wait for Loki to get inspired; they stood to attention and some tried to cut them off from the exits. The humans less prone to war took to the centre of the group and its apparent protection. The warriors, the assassins, the soldiers, the random ones who had enjoyed their fair share of fights in their lives, went to protect the weak.

Loki checked around him. There was no way they could fight their way out if they were really surrounded. Even though most of the humans there had had the apple-distilled serum, and their numbers were higher than the guards.

Loki, and not only him, was surprised when an elfin pointy-eared woman jumped from the jury table and lifted her sword, pointed at the Asgardians. A handful of other diplomats had done the same. The woman looked briefly at Loki.

"You said you'd welcome anyone regardless of race."

Loki made an affirmative noise.

"That's what I thought."

She attacked, and with her went the eager ones, jumping into a fight. The members of the jury who didn't charge against the guards ran away. The Aesir guards were instructed to let them run away and Loki took the chance to lead his small troop through the same door, trying to get out mixed with the terrified and fleeing guests.

"Retreat!" Loki fell right into his old leading role, second in command, but head of strategy. With one difference; this time the ones fighting along him wouldn't mock his magic or refuse to retreat. He lifted Tony's body in a floating pod at the same time as he parted the air with both hands to push guards away and clear a path that would allow them to leave the room.

Before the first human could get out, the huge golden doors closed with a bang. Loki turned and saw Odin, Gungnir still in position, high and in a firm grasp of his hand.

Loki hissed while the guards managed to surround them. There was nothing to do now. Loki could try to distract Odin while the rest contained the guards and one of the diplomats guided a few ones through some passage out of the castle. It was going to be a massacre if Loki couldn’t think of something else.

There was silence while he thought hurriedly, there were heavy breaths and time seemed to slow down as Loki sought desperately a way out.

There wasn’t one.

They had come this far, but there was no trick to play now.

In the silence before rendition; a drop.

Two drops.

Loki got distracted by the sound of the drops falling from a still bleeding head wound, floating over a red pool; a sacrifice that would go to waste. Their lies would meet with the truth somewhere in the middle, in between fighting for their realm and fighting for sheer survival, in between glorious battle and pointless death…

Three loud drops.

Bloody footprints and his own bloody hands, from when he had tried to stop the bleeding, demanded his attention.

It was spelled! The blood was somehow spelled, like that of a seiðkonas, and the spell was running without focus, inexperienced but powerful. It needed a point to break through.

Loki didn't fully understand how there was blood-magic coming out of Tony of all people, and he didn’t know what it would do if it was triggered, but it seemed that while they tried to build a story, the story had found them first.

If Tony had been conscious he would have said that they were covered in gasoline and Loki had decided to throw the match just to see what would happen. It would have been a very apt description. Loki had no idea what would happen to them or what was the purpose of the spell, but it was coming from Tony’s blood when he was communicating with Yggdrasil, so he decided to trust it.

"People from Tiundigard!" Loki took his Tiundigard sigil and raised it high so everybody could see how he smudged it with blood. "We are going home." The words had nothing to do with what would really happen, the sigil had no magic in it, it was just part of the theatrics; Loki simply let the spell run through him, finding its focus, whatever it was.

 

 

 


	7. Chapter 7

For a moment Tony had been somewhere that wasn’t his body but neither was it Yggdrasil and he never got an answer as to where his mind had gone. Maybe his head wound had been the cause, perhaps he had had one of those rare visions because his mind was swimming in that weird soup of energy and thoughts, but soon enough he fell out of it and into the more familiar connection with Yggdrasil.

As soon as he let himself fall into the strange trance to communicate with the world tree, Tony tried to inquire about the vision and about sacrifice and blood, but Yggdrasil said it was done, no sacrifice needed. Tony tried to explain his vision, but Yggdrasil was as clueless as him.

It might have been a consequence of Yggdrasil establishing the connections, it might have been residual time energy, or it might have been be Tony’s blood-loss-induced hallucination. Point being, Tony didn’t understand where it had come from and he no longer trusted it. What if it had been Odin’s trick?

As soon as Tony decided to ignore the vision, Yggdrasil told Tony that it had (frozen? stilled? solidified?) enough… synapses in the past, present and future to let Tiundigard (snap? slide? bloom?) into its own (dimension? plane? space? realm?). Communicating was still exhausting and time-consuming, even though it got a little better with each piece of understanding.

Changing Tiundigard into a bigger pot had had consequences, like creating pathways to the other realms, changing sizes of things and moving mass. It was only chit-chatting, because what Tony really needed was his apparent death, but it turned out to be an enlightening conversation.

Yggdrasil forced him to feel the energy shifts it had had to perform to balance Tiundigard. Tony felt it being created, real and existing like an extension of him. And then the feeling turned the other way too, forcing energy into his body. It had flooded that empty part within his body, the part Yggdrasil occupied every time they were in touch, and it had hurt for the better part of a few... Seconds? Might as well have been years. It had stretched to make way for more, it had filled him to the brim and then it had kept going, it had overflowed, overwhelmed and definitely overTony-ed.

The energy had left the empty places Tony had felt and it had travelled to his blood. Yggdrasil had something to do with the energy but Tony didn't know what. It started making him very tired suddenly, and Tony feared that his death-wish would actually come true. However, Yggdrasil is still tried communicating for a while, until the feeling of tiredness ebbed a little.

Tony could feel his body being moved in the real world, (real?) in the conscious world, and it was the weirdest feeling because he wasn’t wearing that body but he could still feel through the Yggdrasil connection. Tony couldn’t come back yet, Yggdrasil said his body would give out under the weight of his mind right then. Tony had no choice but believing it, so he spent the following immeasurable chunk of time experimenting with the feeling of emptiness and fullness, learning how to fill and empty them himself under the curious but wandering attention of Yggdrasil.

He woke up. He smelled disinfectant and he almost expected the rhythmic beep of a heart monitor, but his room was dark, silent. He was plugged with intravenous feeding. He still felt tired, hungry and weak, and it was unreasonable, because he had been in bed for some time apparently.

Once he looked at the room properly, he noticed a number of strange things, like fire burn marks, all manner of odd objects surrounding his bed, like an orchid that seemed to have grown out of the ground. Tony tried to take the needle out carefully, but since he didn’t know if the stuff he had seen on films was safe, he decided to take the bag and the metal support with him.

Tony guessed something had gone right, Yggdrasil had said that Tiundigard was a fact now, but he was still afraid. Their success didn’t necessarily imply Tony’s personal success. For all he knew, maybe he was committed in a Midgardian mental hospital. He was sure he was not in an Asgardian one; not enough for that.

If that was the case, then there was no time to waste asking where he was, he had to get out before someone noticed he had woken up. At least he was wearing a pyjamas, and there didn’t seem to be locked doors so far. Good. Maybe they thought he was a vegetal and he had been put in a ward with minimum security.

He had the fleeting thought of Loki and a pang of worry consumed him. He might be dead, everyone might be dead, but he had to escape before worrying about that. Then he’d have to get a team to rescue whoever was in the same situation, although, if someone was in that same hospital or institution or… Tony opened quietly the door to a room. It was empty.

He looked into five more rooms before deciding the whole hall must be empty. He found stairs and he went down to what he guessed to be the ground floor holding his metal structure like one would hold a sword. There was no sign of life, but there were signs to different places, like a cafeteria, but all seemed to be closed up. Not even nurses on the halls. Tony was starting to freak out. Maybe he was in a nightmare? Maybe there was something terrible roaming the halls? Who knew! Tony didn’t! And he didn’t like that situation. All looked like some kind of abandoned videogame setting.

Tony turned decided to do the stupid thing and instead of sneaking through a window with his intravenous feeding and running for the hills, he followed the signs to the main exit and entrance probably. He found light there in some kind of administrative window that had its door open. There was noise of chatter, but Tony didn’t pay attention to whatever was being said. The hall was dark and the light of the administrative window only reached a few feet into the hall, so he walked quickly but quietly avoiding the light.

The door was closed but it opened when Tony stepped closer, so Tony ran out, guessing that the noise would alert whoever was in the night shift. He looked both ways to check his best escape route. He chose left and took the first street to the right to shake any persecutors off his tail.

However, he found a wide street with a perfect view of the skyline and he stood frozen in place. Like a deer caught in the headlights. For a short moment he simply didn’t understand what he was seeing. The first thoughts that came to mind were Doomsday and Ragnarok; fire and brimstone, and a bad chemical spillage, especially after his stroll through what looked like some kind of post-apocalyptic hospital.

Then it clicked and he relaxed a little, letting the metal structure stand on its little wheels. Tension disappeared bit by bit when he started to breathe deep breaths. It was… he didn’t have words for it. He didn’t realize someone had been calling his name until they stopped by his side.

“Here you are. I thought Asgard had found a way in.” It was Loki beside him. “He’s here! He’s fine!” Then he followed Tony’s gaze. “It is a nice sunrise, but you are barefoot and you are going to get cold.”

“Fine, but wait a moment. Also, we should officially say I’m dead. And also, a dream vision suggested we might want to destroy all records of how we managed all this with a bit of arsoning, I will need your help with that. Oh, and I love you and I forgot to tell you.” Tony didn’t even turn to tell him.

Some people came to where they were standing; they saw Tony and stood staring too, not even trying to take Tony back.

“I did that too, the first time I saw one,” Bruce said. He had insisted on staying close to Tony. After a whole year of forced separation because of Loki’s deal, the doctor wanted some of his friend back.

Loki looked at the sky. It was just a sunrise, the circle proper hadn’t even started to show, it was just the usual mess of pink and orange and red and purple all clashing. And still the humans stared.

 

“Why…?” he asked, hoping he was not stepping on some cultural clash.

“I had never seen a sunrise without the blue screen, alien.” Tony said plainly. “I planned to see one the day I spent on Asgard, but you ruined my chance when you dragged me to that coffee house in Asgard.”

“Oh.” Loki refused to feel guilty. He stared at the first ray of sunshine that would warm them soon enough. Tony’s arm sneaked around his waist.

“I’m a genius, remember? I chose my priorities really, really well that day.” His voice had a hint of humor.

“Is it safe getting close?” asked Clint from quite far away.

“Hmm?” Tony asked as if he didn’t care at all what the mad agent was talking about.

“Probably, now that he is awake. In case you are wondering, you have been letting magic lose, destroying your rooms and anyone fool enough to try to keep a watch.”

Tony blinked slowly. So _that_ was what was happening while he played with the energy with the world tree. It was… logical. Loki said meeting the tree hurt and it didn’t hurt for him, but maybe it only hurt because it had to share space with magic. Tony had come inexperienced, and it had hurt when he had used magic. Huh… he’d have to study that.

“Tony? That means you can use magic.” Natasha was there too, huh? “You despised it, are you not going to bother with a comment?”

“I’m standing in a new realm created by what might be a huge parasite in space that lives off memetic residual energy. Furthermore, I’m alive, Tenants are alive to see this and many other sunrises, we have magic-engineered-apple-juice and the means to defend ourselves from Asgard, and we somehow got out of Asgard alive. By the way, someone needs to fill me up on that, because I think someone adorned too much the tale I was told.” Tony clutched Loki a little tighter trying to convey an _and the best part might be that I get to keep you out of all of this mess_. “But what I mean to say. It will take some time until something fazes me again.”

They stared quietly until the circumference stopped touching the skyline.

Then Tony sighed, clapped loudly and turned.

“Okay, someone fill me up, and it better be epic, because this needs to be the stuff of legends.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to my pitcher artist who is a pro and balanced life and artisting in a record time and out of the goodness of her heart. You should check out her her  portfolio here . Also I would like to thank her because she dared to try techniques she was not that familiar with, and that takes courage.
> 
> Thanks to my original artist too, even though she disappeared (I hope you are ok) because I went to see her tumblr to write something she’d want to draw and without her this fic wouldn’t have smut. In other words, the nerve to write smut for the first time instead of fading to black as I ususlly do (and now that I know I can, however messily or not I’ll probably try again) comes from her tumblr. 
> 
> Thanks to Lævateinn , who is a great friend and the one who knew what to do when I filled her inbox with messages of "oh my god, I wrote it, I bet it is awful" and "It is finished, thanks whoever, it is in time." and "Why in norn's name can't this be easier". Also, the beta tester of the fic if not full beta because of schedule reasons.
> 
> Thanks to San, my friend and current flatmate who isn’t even into frostiron, but listened when I whined and complained because I was stuck in the scene where Tony hallucinated the future, I wanted kids, but didn't know how to add the idea of the legend to it. She came up with the drama class.
> 
> And finally, thanks to Plumadesatada, she’s a dear, a problem-solver, a skillfull manager, a great artist in many levels, and on top of that she had the time to participate as well as to manage the Bang. She is amazing, so someone hire her and pay her well because I know there is not enough money in my wallet to pay for all the great work she did selflessly.
> 
> (And if someone is still waiting for The God and the Bennu, good news, I'm trying to getback on track)


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